What A True Parent Is
by Hallow Sisters On My Mind
Summary: Everyone knows the way Ethel is treated by her parents, but what if one day their treatment of her causes a accident that could have been avoided if they had paid more attention to her? And what about when the sisters meet someone who changes everything they ever thought they knew about a parent?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Who is excited for Monday for series two of the Worst Witch? I know I am, I can barely contain my excitement.

I hope you all enjoy my brand new story and thank you to the stargate time traveller for helping me with this idea, I hope you love the way it came down on paper.

Reviews would be appreciated. I do NOT own the Worst Witch Series or the Characters.

* * *

 **What A True Parent Is**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Ethel Hallow walked with her arms folded over her chest as her trainers scuffed over the laminate flooring making a squeaking noise. The young blonde chanced a glance at her older sister, Esmerelda, who was walking on her right and saw that the older blonde looked bored to tears as well.

"Ethel, walk properly!" Mrs Hallow shouted to her middle daughter as she heard her scuffing her feet. Ethel turned her gaze away from her sister and sighed.

"Sorry mother" Ethel replied to her looking at the ground.

Ethel and her two sisters, Esmerelda and Sybil, were all out with their parents in Waitrose doing the food shop. To many people they might be wondering why Mr and Mrs Hallow did not just send their servants or butler to do this chore but Mr and Mrs Hallow were very fussy and after they had sent the servants a few times and they had come back with things they did not approve of the couple decided to do the job themselves.

This is exactly why the three girls,who were as blonde as their mother,were bored to tears and Mr and Mrs Hallow did not let their girls wander off to look around but made them stay together the whole time, Ethel had no idea why they had bothered to bring her and her sisters...they would still buy what they want anyway and it was something all three girls had come to dread.

* * *

As Mr and Mrs Hallow were talking about meat and trying to decide on what they were buying, Sybil, who had remained quiet like she is supposed to up to this point, suddenly spoke.

"I need the toilet" Sybil told her mother as she picked up some chicken and looked at it.

"Sybil, what have I told you before, that is a rude way to put it, you say I need to use the lavatory" Mrs Hallow told her daughter,scolding her for her choice of words.

Ethel had to hide her smirk at the word lavatory, it always made her giggle as no-one her age used that word anymore.

"Sorry" Sybil replied sadly before she kept talking "But I really need to go" Sybil told her mother and father.

"Okay sweetie, on you go" her father replied thinking she was old enough to go toilet by herself.

"Where are they?" Sybil asked not seeing any signs around for directions.

"They are near the tills Sybs, you have to go around to the other end of the shop" Esmerelda replied helpfully.

"No, what if I can't find you again?" Sybil said her lip pouting. Esmerelda knew getting lost was one of Sybil's huge fears, especially in public, and not thinking it would be a good idea for her parents to get called to customer services because Sybil couldn't find them Esmerelda replied.

"I will go with you Sybil, Ethel do you need to go?" Esmerelda asked her sister and Ethel shook her head.

"No thanks, I am fine" Ethel replied with a smile, she knew she could go just to get away from her parents for a bit but she did not fancy going to public toilets if she had a choice.

"Alright, we won't we be long" Esmerelda said to her parents who barely glanced up as Esmerelda touched Ethel on the shoulder before leading Sybil away.

* * *

Ethel followed her parents yawning now and then as they walked down the cheese aisle, Ethel was just about to lie on the floor and cry with boredom when something caught her eye.

"Mother...can we get more chocolate spread?" Ethel asked her mother tugging on her arm. Ethel was fussy with food but she adored chocolate spread,probably a little to much, and she had finished the last of her jar that morning.

Mrs Hallow tutted at her daughter pulling her and although the blonde woman never usually let her girls pick anything she knew Ethel would never shut up until she got it so she agreed.

"If it will keep you quiet" Mrs Hallow told Ethel as she carried on walking with her husband.

Ethel smiled happily and ran over to the spread and jam section looking for her favourite topping, but the space where the jars normally were was empty and Ethel sighed before she looked at the top shelf seeing a new tray ready to be put out. The top shelf of course was for shops to store extra stock until they needed it, and Ethel needed it now.

"Dad I can't..." Ethel started to say, only then realising her parents had walked off without her. Ethel looked around the aisle wanting to ask a shop assistant to get her a jar but there was no one around, there was not even any customers in this aisle at the time, it was empty.

Ethel knew if she went to her parents and told them they had to ask someone to get some down as there was none on the shelf they would not bother to do it and leave the shop without it so Ethel, who was used to getting what she wanted without her parents help, decided to reach the jar herself.

Ethel stood on the lowest metal shelf and stretched up as far as she could but was not even close to reaching the jar she wanted so badly so the young girl gently stepped onto the shelf above her and reached with all her might but she was just to short to be able to grab the jar.

Ethel thought about stepping down and maybe getting Esmie to help her but decided to try once more first, she swung her leg up and put her foot onto the highest shelf before putting her other foot next to her, standing as high as she could on the shelves now.

Ethel reached up easily this time and took her jar of chocolate spread of the shelf, happy that she had managed to get her treat. Knowing Esmerelda would be sending out a search warrant if she did not go and find her family soon, Ethel knew it was time for her to go and catch her parents up.

The young blonde put her foot down gently to climb down the shelves, however, the shelf underneath her was quite low down and Ethel could not see where she was stepping, which is how Ethel missed the step and started to fall backwards.

The girl screamed as she fell but then a few seconds later she fell silent as she smacked her head on the bottom shelf of the shelves she had being climbing and fell to the floor knocked out.

* * *

Esmerelda kept her hands on Sybil's shoulders as they walked around the aisles looking for their parents, Esmerelda being that much older, and used to being by herself,was panicking a lot less than Sybil who was already snivelling from worry that they were lost.

"It is okay Sybil, we will find them" Esmerelda told her sister trying to calm her down as she walked down the corridors with her, as they got to the end of one aisle, Esmerelda instantly noticed a large crowd gathered around.

"Excuse me, please, excuse me" Esmerelda said politely as she grabbed a hold of Sybil's hand so as not to lose her as they pushed through the crowd.

"Why is there a big crowd here?" Sybil asked the elder girl curiously, Esmerelda kept pushing through the crowd before replying.

"I have no idea Sybs" Esmerelda replied truthfully as the got to the end of the aisle, that was when Sybil noticed people were kneeling on the floor over someone.

"Oh no someone has hurt themselves" Sybil said not seeing any other reason why they would be lying on the floor.

With such a big crowd of people gathered Esmerelda knew someone must have called for a ambulance and she assumed someone had collapsed or something and she did not think it was right for her sister to see this so she started rushing faster to the end of the aisle when she saw something which nearly made her heart stop.

She happened to get a glimpse of the person lying on the floor as she hurried past with Sybil, she was looking at the person upside down but she would know her sister anywhere. Her sister was lying on the floor and clearly something bad had happened to her.

"Ethie!" Esmerelda screamed as she dropped Sybil's hand in her shock and ran towards Ethel as fast as she could,pushing through the people gathered around her sister to reach her.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The first episode was amazing, who else loved it? Reviews would be appreciated. I do not own the Worst Witch or the characters.

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Esmie kneeled on the floor next to her sister in a panic wondering what on earth had happened to her, a man on her left, who seemed to be in his mid-forties,spoke to her.

"Do you know her love?" the man asked her kindly wondering if this was a family member.

"She is my baby sister...well little sister...what on earth happened?" Esmerelda asked to no-one in particular. A dark haired woman who seemed to be in her late twenties answered from the crowd of the people standing.

"I was rounding the corner as it happened, she fell from the shelves and hit her head" the woman replied explaining to Esmerelda what she had seen. Esmerelda really did not have time to reply because Sybil kneeled on the floor next to her and screamed.

"Ahh...she's bleeding" the youngest blonde commented in a panic stricken voice.

Esmerelda had been way to concerned at first to scan her sister for injuries but at Sybil's scream she looked and saw what Sybil meant, Ethel's head was bleeding and looking at it made Esmerelda feel faint as she knew at that moment she was in a bad way.

"Sybs, go find mum and dad now!" Esmerelda shouted to her sister who stood up and nodded before running off, forgetting that she was terrified of being alone. All she was focused on them was finding her parents.

"Has someone called an ambulance?" Esmerelda asked needing reassurance that help was on the way for Ethel. A couple of people nodded and Esmerelda grabbed a hold of her sister's hand not knowing what else to do.

* * *

"Sybil don't pull!" Mrs Hallow said telling the girl off as her youngest daughter pulled her and her husband towards the scene of the accident.

"Ethel is hurt!" Sybil replied to her mother. Esmerelda heard the exchange and looked up seeing neither her mother or father seemed concerned, or seemed in a rush to go and check on Ethel "It is only because they think it is a silly little scrap on the knee" Esmerelda said to herself, trying to convince herself her parents did not realise how badly injured Ethel was.

Once Sybil had succeeded in dragging her parents towards Ethel, Esmerelda looked up at them the worry written all over her face.

"She hit her head, there is blood...if the ambulance is any longer we might have to take her to hospital ourselves" Esmerelda told her parents who stayed standing looking at their daughters.

Esmerelda seemed to of spoken to soon because just then two men, dressed in their green paramedics uniforms, rushed forward and Mr and Mrs Hallow seemed to think they had stayed long enough.

"Sorry we just got called into work, we have to go" Mrs Hallow told Esmerelda, uncaring towards Ethel. All Esmerelda could do was stare at them opened mouthed. Yes her parents did not like Ethel, that much was obvious, but even they were not going to leave her when she had a head injury...right?

Wrong. Mr and Mrs Hallow started pushing through the crowd to leave and Esmerelda did not even feel anger in that moment, only a horrible fear. A fear that Ethel was so badly injured and she would be alone with her if the worst happened.

"Wait no don't leave...she needs you!" Esmerelda told her parents watching them walk away. Trying to convince them to stay.

"Come Sybil" Mr Hallow said to his youngest not replying to Esmerelda.

Sybil looked between her parents and her sisters horror struck, when Esmerelda saw Sybil starting to run towards Ethel and herself she smiled, she knew Sybil would not leave Ethel like this, but her smile faded a moment later as Mr Hallow walked to her grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

"No I want to stay, no let me stay please" Sybil begged starting to cry at this point as she was so worried about Ethel. The girl might fight with Ethel but it did not mean she did not love her.

"Be quiet Sybil!" Mrs Hallow shouted at her before turning to the crowd of people "Would you all move?" She asked them rudely as people moved aside to let her pass, Sybil was still struggling, trying to get to her sisters but once Mr and Mrs Hallow were a safe distance away they used the transfer spell, making themselves,and Sybil, disappear.

* * *

"Excuse me" Esmerelda heard someone talking to her as she shook her head and looked over at the paramedic.

"You are her sister right? "What is her name?" he asked Esmerelda as his colleague was checking Ethel over.

"Ethie...err sorry" Esmerelda replied realising her mistake. "Ethel Hallow, she is twelve" Esmerelda told the man helpfully, who nodded in thanks and then the other paramedic stood up, said some medical terms which Esmie had no clue what any of it meant, and then they started to lift Ethel onto a stretcher carrying her to the ambulance. Esmerelda jumped up and followed them.

"Let me come with you please" Esmerelda begged as they started to place the young girl into the ambulance.

"Where are your parents?" the paramedic that had checked over Ethel asked.

"They...are not here...please let me come" Esmerelda begged them and the two men looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright, go on" one of them said and Esmerelda got into the ambulance and sat on the seat by Ethel as one of the paramedics started to drive off and the other got into the back with Esmerelda.

"Is my sister going to be okay?" Esmerelda asked him as she grabbed Ethel's hand stroking it with her thumb.

"I honestly can't say right now, I am sorry" the paramedic replied as they drove. Nothing much more was said throughout the journey, the paramedic asked Esmie a few questions but Ethel did not react the whole time.

Arriving at the hospital, Ethel was taken off to a ward and Esmerelda was told to go and wait so the girl found the waiting room and waited and waited, worried out of her mind. She looked around the waiting room seeing it full of worried looking adults, but all the children and minors were with a adult except for her.

* * *

A hour later, a nurse came out and told Esmerelda Ethel was stable but would need further tests but she would be allowed to sit with her until they were ready for her. Esmie jumped up and walked into the room her sister was in, not really prepared for what met her.

There was five or six tubes connected to Ethel, she had a oxygen mask over her face, and her head was bandaged up. It would appear Ethel could not even breathe without support right at that moment.

Esmerelda sunk into the chair by the bed and grabbed Ethel's hand finally allowing herself to cry softly as she stroked the girl's blonde hair. She had been holding it in, knowing she had to stay strong for Ethel as she was the only one with her, but seeing her sister covered in tubes was to much for her and she cried softly.

"Ethie...come on wake up" Esmerelda begged her sister as tears fell down her face. Nothing happened the girl just lay there.

Esmerelda kissed her hand and then lay her head on her stomach gently which was not exactly comfortable with the way she was sat but in that moment she no longer cared. She wanted to feel close to Ethel right now and hoped that she knew she was not alone.

Esmerelda hated her parents so much in that moment. How could they leave Ethel like that? It was disgusting, even if they were not keen on Ethel she had a head injury, no-one yet knew how badly this would affect her, but they had not even battered a eyelid at it. If Ethel died Esmie could imagine them not going to the funeral as they had 'work' and in that moment she started to also realise she didn't want to inherit their business if it meant she would treat her children like that.

Esmerelda was also angry at the fact they had dragged Sybil away like that, the girl clearly had wanted to stay with her sister and she should have been given the choice, but Esmie could not worry about Sybil right now as she had Ethel to worry about.

Esmerelda must have laid with her head on her sister for around half a hour, her back was hurting badly from the angle she was lying on her but she refused to sit up, that is until a female voice behind her caught her attention.

"Hello there?" a kind sounding female voice said. Esmerelda lifted her head and turned around to look at who had spoke and came eye to a eye with a woman who had curly ginger hair and brown eyes dressed in a nurses uniform. Esmerelda had no idea who this woman was but something about her was calming.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Hello" Esmerelda replied to the woman politely, the woman narrowed her eyebrows as she saw how young the girl was wondering why she was there alone.

"Are your parents not here?" the nurse asked Esmerelda wondering why this girl, who was clearly still in her teens, was by herself here. Esmerelda looked away before replying.

"No, they are to busy to come here" Esmerelda said trying to, but failing, at keeping the anger out of her voice. Julie could hear the anger in her voice as she spoke about her parents and decided to drop it for now and walked closer to the bed.

"Is this your sister?" the woman asked her gently.

Esmerelda nodded and then looked over at Ethel with a sigh before looking back at the nurse.

"Will she be okay?" Esmie asked quietly clearly worried about her little sister.

"We don't know yet, we are going to take her for some scans to make sure" the nurse told the girl.

Scans? That meant things were bad didn't it? Ethel hit her head which was not good at all and if she was going for scans they obviously thought there was something wrong. With this Esmerelda once again started to cry.

The nurse looked at the young girl as she started to cry and instantly she went into mother mode and wanted to comfort the girl, she rushed over to her and touched her shoulder gently.

"Don't cry love, the scans are just a precaution so we can make sure everything is okay" the woman told her gently. Esmerelda cried more as she looked at Ethel and the nurse decided to try comfort her more.

"My name is Julie and I promise that I will make sure your sister is in good hands alright?" Julie told the young girl who nodded and wiped her eyes starting to calm a little. Julie was just about to ask the girl her name when someone called her and told her they were now ready for Ethel's scans.

"We are going to take her for the scans now" Julie told Esmerelda with a lovely smile.

"Can I come?" Esmerelda asked her with pleading eyes.

"Sorry, you can't go in the room" Julie told her as her heart went out more to the young girl, why she was here by herself without her parents was strange to her, she also didn't think it was wise to leave the girl alone right now as she was so upset, so she got a idea.

"Wait here a second" Julie told her as she walked out the ward towards the family waiting room.

* * *

"Mildred" Julie said pointing to her ears to tell her daughter to remove her earphones, Mildred obeyed and looked at her mother.

"Do me a favour love, there is a young girl that is here with her sister, I have to take her sister down for some scans, will you sit with the other girl for a bit? She is upset" Julie told Mildred knowing she was good with people, and as the girl was around her age, she knew she would help the girl right now.

Mildred narrowed her eyes in much the same way her mother had done earlier, her mother had being a nurse for years and she had had to wait in the hospital countless times for her mother to finish work, but she could not remember a time some girl was in hospital alone with her sister, were her parents held up? Mildred had no idea but nodded wanting to help the girl if she could.

"Sure mum" Mildred told her mother standing up and following her out of the room.

* * *

Julie walked back into the room and Esmerelda looked back up at her as she heard her enter before turning back around to look at Ethel so she had her back to her, which is why she did not notice the brunette youngster walk in.

Mildred walked over to the bed as her mother went to get things sorrted for the scans. Mildred glanced slightly at the girl on the bed, it was hard to see the patients face from the tubes and the mask on her face so Mildred turned her attention to the other sister, there was something about the two of them she couldn't put her finger on.

Mildred was just about to open her mouth to talk to the older girl but the older girl was talking to her sister on the bed.

"Sorry I can't come with you Ethie, I did try to make them let me" Esmerelda said to Ethel sad she was not able to go with her for the scans.

Something happened in Mildred's brain in that moment when she heard the name Ethie. It was such a unusual name after all but strangely it was one Mildred had heard many times before, but she only ever heard that name at Cackles Academy, her boarding school. Not only that but in the school there was only ever one person who said the nickname Ethie which is how Mildred clicked and as she turned her attention back to the girl on the bed it came to her in a flash.

"Ethel" Mildred said as she took a good hard long on the bed, yes it was kind of hard to see her classmate because of the wires but now she had no doubt in her mind it was Ethel. As Mildred spoke the other girl turned around taking Mildred of guard.

Mildred liked Esmerelda, but as she was not in her year she did not have that much to do with her. Mildred had only ever seen Esmerelda dressed in the Cackle's Academy uniform, and had never seen the girl during the night, so she had only ever seen her with her hair pulled back in the plait she always wore. Mildred was glad that Ethel was here because she really was not sure she would have recognised Esmerelda anywise as she looked quite a bit different out of the ugly Cackle drapes.

The girl was dressed in a purple dress which ended a few inches past her knee and had a navy blue cardigan over the top of it and then a pair of flat black shoes, she also had a necklace around her neck which was in the shape of a star and a multicoloured bracelet over her wrist. Mildred looked down at her own clothes suddenly feeling extremely poor, it was obvious the clothes Esmerelda wore were expensive which was logically as she was rich of course, Mildred told herself. As Mildred moved her gaze from the blonde's outfit to her face she noticed some other things which were different from school days.

Her hair was down and the ends of it appeared to be curled and...was the girl wearing make-up? It made sense. Despite the girl acting very serious and only acting like she cared about work, the girl was after all a teenager and of course would probably of started to care more about her appearance outside of school. It was very minimal make-up which basically looked like she had brightened her eyes with eyeshadow a little bit, though her eyes were red from crying so Mildred could not be sure on this and it also appeared she had picked a more rosy pick colour for her lips which was not as natural as normal. Esmerelda's look took Mildred a back, she was not stupid she knew the girl probably acted as serious as she did because of her parents and the code but it still shocked Mildred how different she looked, it still shocked Mildred she looked like a teenager.

"Mildred?" Esmerelda said wearing a look of confusion, clearly recognising the girl right off the bat which was not shocking, Esmerelda after all had seen Mildred at the entrance exam in her casual clothing.

"Esmerelda...what are you doing here?" Mildred asked stupidly as she realised obviously Esmerelda was there because Ethel was in hospital and had to stop herself from slapping her forehead.

"Ethel hurt herself" Esmerelda said sadly looking at the floor for a second before she spoke again "Why are you here?" Esmerelda asked Mildred not understanding why Mildred of all people, was here.

"Oh well my mother is a nurse and she doesn't like to leave me home alone for too long so I sometimes have to come to work with her like today if she can't find someone to leave me with" Mildred replied telling the blonde the exact reason she was there before she grew worried.

"What on earth happened to Ethel?" Mildred asked wondering why the girl had ended up in hospital.

"She fell and hit her head" Esmerelda told Mildred simply looking at the other blonde with a sigh.

"But why are you here alone?" Mildred asked Esmerelda wondering why the eldest was not here with her parents, she knew Mrs Hallow appeared uncaring towards Ethel but still if Ethel was in juried she would come.. right?

Mildred was shocked by what she saw next. Esmerelda was clenching her hand into a fist clearly struggling to contain her anger, what on earth had happened to anger Esmerelda Hallow so much?.

"They are working" the girl replied gritting her teeth as she spoke.

Mildred had known for a while now that Mrs Hallow did not seem to love her middle daughter and that home life seemed less than fun for her, but even Mildred felt sick as she heard that her parents had chose to work and left Ethel in the state she was in, and it was not just Ethel either, Esmerelda needed support as well. She could not believe anyone would do that.

* * *

Before Mildred could ask anymore her mother arrived to take Ethel down for the tests she needed and Mildred looked at her and smiled as she spoke to her.

"Thank you Mildred" Julie said to her daughter as she saw her speaking to Esmerelda.

"No problem mum" Mildred replied with a smile, at the word mum Esmerelda, who had been watching Ethel, shot her head up.

"Wait...your Mildred's mum?" Esmerelda asked the woman wearing a shocked expression and Julie returned the expression as she realised the girl was not a stranger to Mildred.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: One hour until it is on! I can't wait!

 **Chapter Four**

Julie had so many questions she wanted to ask the girl but right now she realised who she was wasn't important, Ethel needed her scans.

"We can talk about this later" Julie told the girl as she started to wheel Ethel down with two other nurses for the scans leaving Mildred and Esmerelda alone. For a while they sat in silence, neither of them knowing what to say until Mildred reached into her pocket pulling out some coins, the girl stood up and left and Esmerelda did not comment about it thinking the girl needed the toilet or something so she was shocked when she came back holding something.

"When I am worried mum always gives me chocolate, it always helps" Mildred said offering the girl a chocolate bar she had just got from the vending machine in the hospital, for a moment Esmerelda looked at it and Mildred thought she was not going to take it, Mildred felt stupid then, she had no idea if Esmerelda even liked chocolate but then Esmie took it and proceeded to stare at it for several minutes.

Mildred was worried about how the girl was acting but then she smiled as the girl opened the Mars bar and bit into it,she chewed for a few seconds then bit a bit more as if she had never had chocolate before.

* * *

"Alright slow down" Mildred said with a laugh as she watched her.

"It tastes so good, I had forgotten how good it tastes" Esmerelda admitted to Mildred.

"You don't have chocolate much?" Mildred asked her shocked.

"My parents think it is bad for you so they banned it, and we never get any at school, it is only our Grandma who buys it for us but we hadn't had a chance to go and see her yet" Esmerelda admitted closing her eyes as she ate the amazing treat.

Mildred thought it was ironic. Mr and Mrs Hallow could not give a stuff that Ethel was lying possibly brain damaged in hospital yet they cared about what chocolate did to their kids health, Mildred did not get it.

"I don't know how you do it" Mildred told Esmerelda eating her own bar of chocolate "The first thing I do when I get home from school is raid the fridge for all the chocolate I can find" Mildred told the older girl who chuckled.

"Yes well, we are not allowed in the kitchen because that is where the chefs are cooking and my parents don't want us in the way, if we want something we have to ask for it but chocolate is never in the house" Esmerelda told Mildred who gawped at her amazed before closing her mouth.

"I still can't believe your parents are not here" Mildred commented changing the subject as she chewed on her chocolate. Esmerelda shrugged before replying.

"I can, that is just how they are" Esmerelda admitted to Mildred as she sadly ate her chocolate.

"I can't say I know much" Mildred replied gently "But it seems to me your parents have something against Ethel..." Mildred commented not wanting the girl to yell at her for sticking her nose in.

"They do, I don't know why so don't ask" Esmerelda told Mildred with a sigh.

Mildred dropped the subject then not wanting to push the girl to much, and the two girls fell silent again eating their chocolate.

* * *

Julie came back to them exactly one hour later and Ethel was brought back down. Esmerelda asked what the results were but Julie said they had to wait for the results, as they were waiting Julie wanted to know who the girl was.

"So you know Mildred?" Julie asked the blonde curiously and Esmerelda nodded before Mildred spoke.

"Yes mum, this is Esmerelda Hallow she goes to Cackles, Ethel goes too she is in my year" Mildred told her mother explaining who she was.

A realisation came to Julie then and she looked from Esmerelda to Ethel and then back to Mildred again.

"Isn't Ethel the girl who bullies you?" Julie asked and Esmerelda and Mildred glanced at each other.

"Well yes but..." Mildred said trying to think what she actually wanted to say.

"And isn't Esmerelda the one who sticks up for Ethel when she does something to hurt you?" Julie commented in amazement and Mildred just nodded.

"Look" Esmie suddenly butt in needing to say something before Julie got to angry at her. "I know I am probably not your favourite person and I know Ethel definitely is not your favourite person but please just help my sister and then we will be out of your way" Esmerelda told Julie but Julie was angry right now. She had felt sorry for this girl, but now she was not sure she did.

"You might be out of my way but you and Ethel will not be giving Mildred a break at school" Julie replied wanting the girl to feel guilty, she might not be the bully but she was, in Julie's mind, encouraging her sister's behaviour by sticking up for her.

"I will try to talk to Ethel when she wakes up about it but bear in mind I can't force her to stop especially as I won't be there" Esmerelda replied wanting Julie to understand she could not do much to help Mildred.

Mildred and Julie were both looking at Esmerelda confused now at what she had meant by her last comment.

"What do you mean you won't be at Cackle's?" Mildred asked not understanding.

"Well I lost my" Esmerelda started to say before she looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then she turned back to Mildred and whispered "Magic didn't I?" Esmerelda replied and Mildred for the second time that day gawped at the girl.

"Wait...you never got your powers returned?" Mildred asked the girl shocked. She had being filled in on the in and outs of what happened last year by Maud and Enid but she had not realised Esmerelda actually never got her powers back.

"No, Agatha still has them, when they were stopping Agatha they forgot to take them from her as they were concerned about locking her away in the painting" Esmerelda told Mildred with a sigh looking sad.

Now Mildred really didn't understand. She didn't expect the girl to do what her parents did and not bother to show up at the hospital if Ethel was so badly injured but it was the fact Esmerelda was displaying no anger towards her sister that Mildred didn't get, she had been filled in, she knew Ethel had tricked her, so she didn't get how she could just forgive her. Mildred liked to think of herself as a forgiving person but if her own sister had tricked her into losing her powers she was not sure she would be able to forgive her, at least not for a long time.

"Wait a second, what is going on here?" Julie asked her daughter and Esmerelda, Mildred had briefed her mother on what happened last year but she had not told her about Esmerelda, more for the fact that she was not sure if it was true or not as Maud and Enid had told her it was only rumours Ethel had being helping Agatha, some people thought Agatha had just picked Esmerelda randomly.

Esmerelda sighed and went into the whole story talking quietly so that no-one could hear her talking about magic, by the time she was finished Julie had the same feelings as Mildred.

* * *

Esmerelda moved so she was sitting by Ethel again knowing that Julie and Mildred were confused and were probably going to ask her some more questions. She sat by Ethel and stroked her hair the worry on her face clear as day.

"I am sorry Julie for the hurt my sister and I have caused Mildred" the girl said as she stroked Ethel's hair so she was not looking at the woman.

"Are you not...angry...at what she did?" Julie asked wondering if the girl was just hiding it well and was angry or if she really had forgiven Ethel.

"No, Ethel made a mistake that is all" Esmerelda replied without glancing up.

Julie was not sure what to think about that. She honestly thought Esmerelda was deluding herself to the truth as Ethel had known what she was doing, but it was not really for her to say anything against that. Mildred looked at her mother giving her a look that told her she very much doubted Ethel of all people had made a mistake.

"Julie the results are back" a male doctor said to her sending her out of her thoughts. Julie looked up and saw both Esmerelda and her own daughter looking from her to the envelope in the doctor's hand with fear in their eyes, especially Esmerelda who looked like she would collapse if this was bad news. As Julie took the envelope and thanked the doctor she hoped with all her might all was good and she temporarily forgot she was supposed to dislike Ethel as the fear for the child overwhelmed her much more.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Julie opened the envelope containing Ethel's results and looked at the scan photos along with the report. She could sense her daughter and her daughters classmate looking at her and she tried her best not to change her expression.

"It would appear there is a small injury on the right side of her head b.." Julie said to the girls but before Julie could even finish her sentence Esmerelda was set off crying again and Julie mentally slapped herself as it was the second time she had set her off that day. Julie put down the scan and walked over to the girl. She really didn't know what to make of her yet but the girl was so distraught it didn't matter anymore.

"She will be alright Esmerelda" Julie told her placing a hand on her back to reassure her.

"But you said there is something wrong" the girl replied through her sobs. Mildred looked at her biting her lip never having seen the girl cry before, let alone this much.

"Yes but it is not serious, until Ethel wakes we won't know how this injury will affect her but it is not life threatening, she is going to be okay" Julie told the young blonde her heart breaking at how upset she was and Julie did not want to upset her more but she knew now she could not put it off anymore.

"Even though Ethel is going to be okay she will be in hospital for a while, I am going to need to speak to a adult.." Julie told Esmerelda hinting she needed to talk to her parents.

"Mum and dad will be upset she isn't dead, please don't ring them" Esmerelda replied wiping her eyes with her cardigan sleeve.

Julie handed the girl a tissue that was on the bedside table and smiled at her sympathetically though she was worried she thought her parents would be happy if Ethel died.

"Esmerelda I have to ring an adult about this" Julie told her matter of factly needing to speak to an adult about Ethel.

Esmerelda cried for a bit longer before replying after wiping her eyes.

"Okay...but not my parents...ring my Grandma Josephine she will want to know...though she probably won't be able to get here because she is living in Australia" Esmerelda replied and Julie sighed again but gave Esmerelda a deal.

"I will ring her, if she can't get here though I will have no choice but to ring your parents alright?" Julie commented and Esmie nodded knowing she had no choice in the matter.

"Alright what is her phone number?" Julie asked the young girl before she wondered if she even had a phone and then there was the cost of calling Australia but she put that to the back of her mind.

Esmerelda wrote a number down and handed it to Julie who left with the promise she will be back as soon as possible.

* * *

Julie walked to the main desk and picked up the phone to dial the number knowing she was going to be in trouble when it was discovered she was ringing Australia but right now she didn't care, she had patients who needed her. The phone rang for ages and ages and Julie was just about to hang up before a female answered.

"Hello?" the woman said sounding like she had rolled out of bed to answer it and Julie stupidly realised the time difference probably meant it was night-time there.

"Hello is that Josephine Hallow? I am sorry to be calling at this hour" Julie replied as she used one hand to hold the phone and the other to check the internet on the computer for the time in Australia and she realised it was four in the morning.

"Who is this?" the woman said sounding tired at the late night call.

"My name is Julie Hubble, I live in England and I am a nurse, I am calling you because your granddaughter,Ethel, is one of my patients and I need a adult here, Esmerelda is here alone with her sister" Julie told the woman professionally.

"Ethel is in hospital?, What happened to her?" Josephine asked the worry clear in her voice as she had clearly not being told.

"She fell and hit her head, she is still not awake yet, Esmerelda does not want me to ring her parents though" Julie told the woman everything.

"My Ethel has head injuries and they never bothered to tell me!?" She asked sounding hurt, upset, and worried all at once which was a reaction that was to be expected. She took 'they' to mean the sisters parents so she replied based on that.

"They have not turned up to the hospital, apparently they are working, I am sorry you were not told, it happened this afternoon" Julie told the woman everything she knew about Mr and Mrs Hallow and the accident.

"Where is Sybil?" Josephine asked after her youngest granddaughter.

"Who is that sorry?" Julie asked confused as to who she was.

"Esmie and Ethel's sister" Josephine replied simply.

"I am sorry I do not know, she is not here with Esmerelda so I assume she is at home" Julie replied now worried herself, she did not realise there was a third sister, this made things more complicated.

The line went silent then as if Josephine was trying to take everything in and Julie was worried the call had cut out when she started to speak again.

"I am going to go to the airport now and get the next available flight, please look after my girls until I am there" she asked Julie as she heard sounds like things being thrown in a suitcase in the background.

"Of course I will...should I inform Mr and Mrs Hallow?" Julie asked still not sure what to do about them.

"No they will only upset the girls, when I get to England I am going to stop at their residence to pick up Sybil but I will come as soon as I can" she told Julie and the woman smiled. She had not met Mr and Mrs Hallow but Josephine Hallow seemed like she really cared about her granddaughters.

"Great see you soon, I will look after the girls until you are here, goodbye" Julie said to the woman.

"Thank you, goodbye" Josephine said hanging up the phone. Julie replaced the receiver and walked back to the ward.

* * *

"Your grandmother is on her way" Julie told the young blonde who was sitting with Mildred by Ethel.

Esmerelda nodded slowly before talking "Thank you" the girl said thanking Julie for ringing the woman.

Julie had heard the panic in Josephine's voice when she found out what had happened to her granddaughter and she had promised the woman that she would look after her granddaughters until she was able to get there and that was a promise she was going to keep.

"How long has she lived in Australia?" Julie asked curiously.

" A few years, she left England after my grandfather's death" Esmerelda replied sadly. It was clear to the mother that the young girl really missed her grandmother.

"She loves Ethie, she always has" Esmerelda told Julie as she looked at her sister fondly.

It was then that Julie thought it was wise to try and get a bit more information out of the girl. Her grandmother would not be there for hours so until then it was her job to comfort her.

"Mildred why don't you go show Mr Wilson your paintings?" Julie asked her daughter. The old man was recovering from a hip operation and loved Mildred's artwork. Mildred looked at her mother narrowing her eyebrows but when her mother moved her head towards Esmerelda, Mildred understood she wanted to talk to her alone.

"Oh...yes he hasn't seen my latest drawing...see you later Esmerelda" Mildred said as she stood up and walked of leaving her mother and Esmerelda alone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Once Mildred was gone Julie and Esmerelda sat in silence for a good while until Julie decided to be the one to start the conversation.

"So who is Sybil? Your Grandma mentioned her" Julie asked wanting to know more about the youngest blonde.

"She is our youngest sister, she is a year younger than Ethel" Esmie replied telling Julie who she was.

"Oh so why is she not here?" Julie asked confused.

"Mum and dad dragged her off and wouldn't let her come, I know I could have gone after her but Ethel needed me more more in that moment" Esmerelda told Julie and Julie could understand that. Esmerelda turned away and looked at Ethel which such a pure look of love on her face Julie just had to bring herself to ask the girl the question that was on her mind.

"Why are you not mad at her for what happened?" Julie asked the blonde girl. "And don't say because she didn't mean it, I think you know that is not true" Julie asked the girl not understanding how the girl could be so cool about it.

"I love her" Esmerelda replied simply as if she did not need to explain anymore.

"Yes but that does not mean you can't get angry at someone, I love Mildred more than anything in this world but sometimes I still get angry at her" Julie replied.

"I was angry at first...but Ethel was so upset when she realised what she had done...I couldn't bring myself to stay mad...Ethel is not as bad as you think" Esmerelda told Julie in explanation. When Julie made no response to this Esmerelda carried on.

"Ethel used to be a lot calmer when she was younger, she was a lot nicer too, but as she got older she realised mum and dad were ignoring her and the treatment she received was different from the treatment my sister Sybil and I receive, Ethel is not a bad person at all...she is just hurting..she doesn't know how to deal with the hurt inside so she lashes out at people, the more jealous she is of a person the worse she is...that is why it is normally Mildred or I who are her victims" Esmerelda told Julie talking quietly as she stroked her sisters hand. "She is jealous of Mildred for having you, and she blames me for the treatment I receive" Esmerelda admitted to Julie telling her exactly why Ethel could act like such a brat.

Julie was angry at that. Alright the girl's parents might not want anything to do with her but she had siblings, a loving grandma and she came from a well respected and rich family, Julie thought in that moment Ethel was ungrateful.

* * *

"Yes well with the amount of things Ethel has she should learn to be more respectful to people who have less" Julie said a bit more rudely than she intended to.

Esmerelda sighed at that moment. Why did people think money made them happy? It did no such thing.

"Money doesn't buy happiness, my sisters and I might have everything but none of us are happy...not really, our parents are never at home and when they are at home they are cold...they are nota affectionate and they hate noise and mess" Esmerelda replied and Julie felt bad for what she had said then.

"When Mildred was born did you love her straight away?" Esmerelda changed the subject suddenly. Julie looked taken a back by the question feeling the girl was trying to catch her out for not loving Mildred enough and she glared in response.

"Of course I did, she was my baby" Julie said glaring at Esmerelda and the girl realised her question had come out in a patronising way.

"Sorry...I was just trying to compare your love for Mildred to mine for Ethel" Esmerelda replied but Julie really seemed annoyed.

"Ethel and Mildred can not be compared they are different, and my daughter and I are different from you and your sisters" Julie told the girl.

"Yes but" Esmerelda started to say.

"No buts" Julie said knowing she was going a bit far but she was angry at the girl right now for what she had implied. Esmerelda stood up then so suddenly and aggressively her chair fell to the floor and Julie jumped.

"Mildred is not flaming perfect okay! What about all the stuff she has done to Ethel? Messing up her potion at selection day, turning her into a pig, embarrassing her in front of their year group, she is no princess either! And before you say Mildred never means it how can you not understand why Ethie hates her? She ruins everything for her even if it is unintentional" Esmerelda shouted at Julie causing a lot of alarmed people in the ward to look concerned.

Julie did not say anything just looked at the knocked over chair and Esmerelda looked over too realising she had just lost it and then went and put the chair up before sitting down and burying her head on the covers of her sisters hospital bed.

* * *

"Esmerelda are you okay?" she asked as she looked around and saw people still staring. "Alright show is over" Julie said to them and they all looked away slowly. Julie took some deep breathes knowing both of them had to calm down.

"I am not angry at you...please sit up...I am sorry for upsetting you" Julie said with a sigh and the girl slowly lifted her head and looked at the curly haired woman.

"I am sorry for any pain Mildred has ever caused you or Ethel" Julie told the girl as she could read her now. The girl might hide it well but she was resentful towards Mildred to some degree as well.

"Looking at you with Mildred...it makes me so jealous" Esmerelda told Julie no longer bothering to try hide it. "You both love each other so much..." Esmerelda said sadly as she looked at Ethel with a look Julie could not quite place.

"I didn't mean to upset you, I was just trying to explain, I was two years old when Ethie was born but she became my universe, I loved her since I first saw her but before that too, I already loved her before she was born, I mean...if Mildred had the same type of problems as Ethel you would not give up on her would you?" Esmerelda asked Julie looking at her seriously and Julie shook her head.

"No, being a mother means loving your child unconditionally" Julie explained to Esmerelda.

"Yes...I promised myself when my sisters were little that I would always look after and love them both and I do, I know Ethel has problems but I can't just walk away from her, I couldn't live without my sisters in my life" Esmerelda explained to Julie.

Julie really did understand then. It might be true Mr and Mrs Hallow seemed not to care very much about family but the three sisters certainty loved each other very much and Julie knew if Mildred was Ethel she would still love her, Julie could tell Ethel and their other sister had stolen Esmerelda's heart which is why she was not angry Ethel had made her lose her magic but what Esmerelda had said before was troubling to her.

"Why does Mildred and I being so close bother you so much?" Julie asked wondering if the girl was resentful because even if she was treated well, she has never had the same kind of relationship with her own mother.

"Because it is easy for you two, I never know how Ethel truly feels about me, you don't have to force Mildred to love you" Esmerelda admitted biting her lip slightly at this and Julie felt so bad for her then. She had not expected that response.

"You are wrong you know, I might not know much about you or your family but I know Ethel loves you, Mildred has told me that" Julie told Esmerelda with a smile.

"How will Mildred know?" Esmerelda asked not getting how Mildred would know if she didn't.

"Because she said Ethel rescued you last year, the whole place was collapsing. Think about it Esmerelda, if you were that much of a bother to her it would have been easier to leave you there, but she didn't she risked her life to save yours, just because someone does not always say they love you does not mean they don't, some people struggle with expressing their feelings" Julie told Esmerelda.

"You are lucky you know, I know you don't see it but you are, that all three of you care so much for each other, I have met my fair share of siblings and most don't even want to be associated with one another" Julie told her putting her hand on her back now smiling sweetly at her.

"I am sorry for yelling at you" Esmerelda told Julie smiling back.

Julie pulled the girl into a hug, thinking she needed one right now as she seemed to have suffered a lot in the last few weeks. The teenager, Julie noticed, was stiff. She didn't seem to register the hug as she kept her arms firmly by her side but after a few seconds the girl lifted her arm and hugged Julie properly for the first time, seeming to quite enjoy it and Julie realised then this most not happen often. So she stayed hugging the girl who seemed desperate for affection.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: One hour!

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

The rest of the day went by quite quickly and before long it was nightfall. Mildred had been at the hospital with her mother all day and was clearly tired and Julie had already been at the hospital for a hour more than she was supposed to. Julie knew it was time to go home now so she walked into the ward where Ethel was preparing for the argument that was going to follow.

"Esmerelda, sorry but it is time to go, visiting times are over for the day" Julie told the young girl who looked up at her looking tired but upset as well.

"Let me stay here please!" Esmerelda begged looking at Julie with pleading eyes.

"I have already gave you a hour more than you were supposed to have, you can't stay here Esmerelda" Julie told the girl sympathetically. She knew she would fight her on this.

"I can sleep on the chair" Esmerelda told Julie as if she thought it was where she would sleep that was the problem.

"Esmerelda look I could lose my job if I let you stay here, I am sorry I don't make the rules" Julie told the young blonde.

"But I can't go home...and what if Ethie needs me overnight, what if she grows worse?" the girl said panicking.

Julie knew she couldn't send the girl home. The last thing she wanted was for the girl to try attack her parents in her vulnerable state and it was late, she didn't think the youngster should be out alone, there could be really bad people about.

"I will tell you what why don't you come back with Mildred and I for the night?" Julie suggested as she would feel much better knowing the girl was not walking the streets at this time of night.

"But Ethie..." Esmerelda said tears brimming her eyes.

"I will tell you what, I am good friends with the nurses doing night duty, I will tell them that if anything shall happen to ring me even if it is a ungodly hour and then we can come straight away, and if everything goes smoothly I will bring you back here as soon as visiting hours start tomorrow" Julie told the girl trying to compromise with her. The young blonde looked at her sister and then back at Julie before nodding in agreement with a sigh knowing she had no better choice.

* * *

The journey back to the flat was in silence as all three of the passengers were tired and after the short ten minute journey they all got out and walked into the flat.

Esmerelda looked around curiously. It was small and simply decorated but there was ornaments and pictures of Mildred everywhere from a baby to her current age, it definitely felt cosy here unlike her own house. There was a TV, a strange looking games console that Esmerelda had never seen before, a DVD player and a couple of other knick-knacks.

"Make yourself at home, sorry you will have to take the sofa we only have two rooms" Julie said quietly wondering how the girl would take it but then again she had been prepared to sleep on a chair so she thought she wouldn't mind.

"Okay, thanks" Esmerelda said stifling a yawn which Julie saw.

"It is late I think we better all go to bed, we have a early start tomorrow, the bathroom is the door on the left, I will be in my room" Julie told the blonde who nodded and started to head to the bathroom as Mildred came out of her room and cut her off by accident and Mildred took the opportunity to talk.

"I heard what you said to my mum" Mildred said quickly "About the entrance exam and everything" Mildred told the girl.

Esmerelda looked at Mildred and shrugged her shoulders "So?" Esmerelda asked not bothered if the girl had heard her or not in that moment. She was tired, worried and fed up.

"So, I had only just discovered I was magic, I had no idea taking Ethel's ingredient would ruin her potion, I was out of my depth, I know you and Ethel seem to think I already had a personal grudge against her but I didn't" Mildred explained wanting the girl to be clear on that fact.

"Okay I agree you had no idea what you were doing...but what about turning her into a pig?" "You had the whole rest of the summer to study and you clearly didn't bother or you would not have made such a stupid mistake" Esmerelda told the girl glaring at her.

Mildred and her friends had often tried to find a resemblance between Esmerelda and Ethel but to no avail but for the first time Mildred was seeing it: the glare, the sarcasm. It was coming to Mildred now. Esmerelda might hide this side, but it was definitely there.

"Actually I did study" Mildred told the blonde becoming angry the girl would imply that "We can't all be a genius you know" Mildred told the girl angrily. It was alright for her she was the star pupil, it all came easy to her.

"I am not a genius, I study" Esmerelda replied "Why is it you are always the hero? " Esmerelda asked the girl angrily.

"I don't mean to be!" Mildred shouted back frustrated.

"Well next time try not to make my sister a laughing stock, I don't appreciate it having to hear her cry because you embarrassed her" Esmerelda said with such a good impression of Ethel's sarcasm, Mildred was wondering if the girl she was speaking to was Ethel and her and Esmerelda had switched places.

"Well next time tell Ethel not to do something stupid, maybe people would feel sorry for her if she was nicer" Mildred shouted back, both girls becoming quite loud. Julie came out her bedroom seeing them near each other yelling.

"Oi you two what on earth is going on?" Julie asked them angrily.

"She started it she is insulting my sister!" Esmerelda shouted.

"She is blaming me for Ethel's behaviour!" Mildred replied angrily.

"I do not care who started it, it is late and you two should be asleep, now get ready for bed both of you" Julie told the two girls. Esmerelda pushed past Mildred to get to the bathroom and Mildred looked at her mother.

"This better only be for one night" Mildred told her mother as she walked back into her room to wait for the bathroom.

* * *

Things calmed down then. Esmerelda came out the bathroom to find the sofa now had cushions and a blanket on it and Julie looked at her with a sympathetic smile.

"I am sorry I don't have anything for you to wear tonight" Julie told her as her things would be huge on the teenager but Mildred's would be far to small on the taller girl.

"No worries" the girl said "Night" she said as she walked towards the sofa to sleep.

Julie left the youngster for a while as she went to finish getting ready herself and then after a few minutes she walked to Mildred's room like always and saw her young daughter in bed asleep with Tabby curled at the end of her bed. The mother walked in and kissed her daughters head, pulling the covers up to make sure she was covered and gave Tabby a quick stroke before coming out and opening the door.

Normally Julie would now go to sleep herself but as tonight she had a guest she wanted to check on her. She knew the young girl might be uncomfortable being in a strange flat so she walked into the living room expecting full well for the girl to still be awake.

Julie smiled to herself as she saw the girl was sound asleep on the sofa, the girl had after all being up for hours with worry so it was no wonder the young girl was tired and had not taken long to fall asleep.

As Julie looked at the blonde a sad feeling came over her when she realised it seemed her parents could not care less about her whereabouts. They had not turned up to the hospital to escort the girl home safely and even Mr and Mrs Hallow must know visitors can not stay in hospitals overnight. If Mildred had not come home by this time Julie would have called the police and gone out to look for her as mothers are supposed to do. The fact they seemed fine with their daughter being out somewhere at that time of night did not sit easy with Julie and she was happy she had offered the girl to come back to the flat, she never would of forgave herself if something happened to the girl as she was making her way home.

Julie walked towards the young girl and like she had done with Mildred she fixed the blanket to make sure she was covered. She left out the kiss on the girl though, mainly for the reason that the girl might wake up and be freaked out if she was being kissed on the head by some woman she had just met. Julie smiled happy the girl was settled and then went towards her bedroom, leaving her phone on and on full volume just in case.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Esmerelda slept for hours until she heard some noises close by like someone was running water, the girl moaned and opened her eyes and saw Mildred filling up a glass with water. The girl who was still groggy from sleep asked a stupid question.

"What are you doing?" she asked and Mildred turned around and gasped as she looked at the girl.

"I am just getting a glass of water, I tried to hold of but my mouth is dry, sorry I didn't mean to wake you" Mildred said apologetically.

"It is alright" Esmerelda said as she sat up rubbing her eyes. It was only then her brain started to work again and she remembered what her and Mildred had said to each other earlier.

"Oh sorry for snapping at you before, I was just really tired and fed up and I am worried about Ethel and Sybil is terrified of starting at Cackles and I have no magic...there is a lot on my mind is all" Esmerelda told the girl explaining why her temper was so short right now. Mildred knew though the girl was not all in the wrong.

"I am sorry too" Mildred said as she went to sit on the sofa next to her gulping her water. "I didn't mean what I said either, do you have no magic left at all?" Mildred asked looking at the girl concerned.

Esmerelda shook her head before she began to talk "No, I gave it to Agatha so Agatha has to give it back which is never going to happen, only way I can get powers back is if someone gives theirs to me" Esmerelda explained to Mildred knowing she was probably clueless about it because she had not being in the magical world long.

"That is so awful" Mildred said with a sigh.

"It is just hard, I mean growing up everyone I knew used magic even for the tiny things, magic is everywhere and now I can't do it, the worst part is I keep forgetting I have no powers and I try to perform spells and they don't work" Esmerelda replied as both girls fell silent for a while, the only sounds which could be heard was Mildred drinking.

"I have no idea how to be normal...I mean what do normal people do in their free time?" Esmerelda asked Mildred knowing the girl would know as she grew up in the regular world.

"We love bikes, they are super fun to ride" Mildred commented making a suggestion.

"You have a bike!?" Esmerelda replied with wide eyed amazement and Mildred chuckled.

"Why are witches so amazed by that?" "Enid had the same reaction" Mildred replied shaking her head.

"If I may make a suggestion though how about you read...seems something you and Ethel enjoy to do" Mildred suggested knowing it would be perfect for Esmerelda.

"I have already read two hundred and twenty seven books this summer" Esmerelda replied with a small smile.

"It is only the second week of summer!" Mildred replied wondering how the hell the girl had managed that.

"Yes well when you have nothing to do you find yourself reading all day" Esmerelda replied as she glanced at the time.

"It is four" the girl said a small smile on her face as she saw the time and Mildred wondered why the girl was happy at this stupid hour.

"Most people enjoy sleeping at four, it doesn't make most people happy" Mildred replied with a snort at her reaction to the time.

"Yes true, but Ethie was born at four, well 4:03 to be precise" Esmerelda told Mildred a small smile still present on her face at the memory. Mildred rolled her eyes.

"Trust Ethel to be born at such an awkward time" Mildred replied and Esmerelda laughed at that.

"Of course, this is Ethel we are talking about, she came into the world making things awkward for everyone and she still makes things awkward now" Esmerelda replied with a fond smile.

Mildred was not actually to amazed the girl knew the time of her sister's birth. She wouldn't be surprised if she remembered something ridiculous like what time she was released from hospital and and how long she was in for. That was Esmerelda all over.

* * *

"You know I always wanted a sibling, but my parents broke up just after my mother found out she was pregnant with me and after that she wanted to focus solely on raising me so I never got one" Mildred told the older girl, admitting basically she was jealous which shocked Esmerelda.

"Well I only asked for one sister and I got two in the space of two years, I love them both though" Esmerelda told Mildred in case she was in any doubt.

"You know I have never met siblings quite like you and your sisters before, I knew loads of siblings in my old school, most of them pretended their sibling didn't exist or they wanted nothing to do with them, they didn't want to be seen with them" Mildred told Esmerelda a little bit about her past.

"Yes well, our parents work a lot, we only really had each other growing up so we became super close" Esmerelda explained why the three of them were so close to one another.

"That makes sense, you know I was amazed by how few people have siblings in the magical world" Mildred commented. Now she thought about it she knew the Hallow sisters and the Cackle twins, everyone else she knew were only children.

"Oh well that is because of the Witches Code" Esmerelda explained to Mildred the reason for why there was so few siblings in her world compared to the normal world.

"Oh? How so? Mildred asked not understanding what she meant.

"Well the code says that the elder child inherits everything, all money, all heirlooms that sort of thing, and younger siblings don't tend to be treated very well so many parents simply choose to have one child as they don't want the code hanging over them like that. Many younger siblings will never be able to achieve as much because of the code so a lot of people choose just to have the one child so they don't have to have favourites and their children are not treated differently" Esmerelda explained to Mildred.

Mildred had never realised before that it was the code that caused it so a lot of children did not have siblings but now Mildred understood. Having siblings was a joy to Ethel but it is also the thing that made her get to the point she is now. The comparisons between her and her sisters, the different treatment she receives, the knowledge she will never be able to achieve much because of it, the struggle to show she is a individual and not Esmerelda or Sybil. Mildred understood now why many people choose to stick to the one child.

* * *

"I doubt even my parents would have had more than one child if I hadn't kept going on about wanting a sister" Esmerelda explained to Mildred.

"Yes I can imagine that drove them up the wall" Mildred replied able to imagine a young Esmerelda going on and on and on about a sister.

"You know you are lucky, in the normal world you don't have a stupid code to go by, people can have as many children as they want and they don't have to treat any of them any differently" Esmerelda told Mildred with a sigh. Clearly she had done her research about it.

Mildred knew what she meant. Parents in the normal world were much more free than in the witching world, true it didn't mean all children were treated well but the regular people were clearly much further along in that aspect.

"One thing we have better than you" Mildred admitted "But I have never met siblings with as much love between them before, the three of you will be fine I know it" Mildred told the older girl even though she knew it really was not fair.

"I am not even allowed to share my things with them that I have inherited because the stupid code forbids it, sometimes I think it is my fault they suffer as I was the one who begged for them" Esmerelda told Mildred and Mildred felt bad as she said that.

"It isn't your fault, you do everything you can to make them feel important even with the code hanging over you, don't blame yourself" Mildred said as she lifted her arm to touch the girl's shoulder but both of them gasped at a sound.

"What was that?" Esmerelda asked in shock.

"My mum!" Mildred said as they heard footsteps.

"Quick go to your room" Esmerelda said as Mildred jumped up and ran in her room as Esmerelda lay back down and squeezed her eyes shut just as Julie left her bedroom. She walked into the front room and saw Esmerelda asleep on the sofa and then quickly went to check on Mildred. Seeing both girls were there and telling herself she was hearing things she turned back around and went back into her bedroom to get a few more hours of sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

No telephone call came through that night so Julie woke up with relief that Ethel was okay. Despite Julie getting up at seven, a habit she had as her body was used to getting up for work, Esmerelda was already up and dressed.

"Oh I was going to leave you and Mildred for a while longer" Julie told her with a smile.

"Can we go now?" Esmerelda asked and Julie shook her head.

"We can't go and visit until nine, why don't we have some breakfast as we wait mm?" Julie said putting her arm around the girl as she led her to the kitchen, wanting to make sure she ate.

Mildred who loved her sleep, was woken by Julie at eight, she had a quick bowl of cereal and then the three of them set off for the hospital.

The three of them walked into the hospital, or in Esmerelda's case speed walked into the hospital, and found themselves outside her ward in no time.

"Wait a second" Julie told Esmerelda as she went and had a quick word with one of the nurses.

"No change as of yet" Julie told the girls as she came back to them and nodded to tell them they could now go in only when they did they realised there was already people there.

* * *

There was already two people visiting, as the Hubbles had gotten stuck in traffic and had only arrived at ten past nine they were a bit late arriving, as the three of them walked in a woman who was sat by Ethel's side, looked up at them curiously.

"GRANDMA" Esmerelda said running to the woman who smiled when she saw it was her granddaughter and stood up meeting her halfway and hugging her in greeting. Julie and Mildred both gave each other a look at this, after all hugging was not big to the Hallows.

Josephine Hallow kissed her granddaughter on the head as the girl cuddled into her for a few seconds before pulling away, the woman gently took the girls face in her hands beaming at her.

"I need to visit more often, you are growing so fast" the woman said as she saw how much older the girl looked.

"Esmie" another voice said and everyone looked over and saw another blonde girl looking at them. As blonde as her sisters it was clear to both Julie and Mildred this was Sybil Hallow.

"Sybil!" Esmerelda said happily as she went and hugged the younger girl who cuddled into her happily, clearly close to her big sister. Josephine looked over and saw Julie and Mildred and smiled before walking over.

"Hello there, are you Julie the one who called me?" the woman asked politely.

"Yes Hello there, it is lovely to meet you at last" Julie replied smiling at the older woman.

What the woman did then shocked both Julie and her daughter. Josephine Hallow offered her hand to Julie for shaking, Mildred had being in the magical world for a year and had never seen a witch greet someone like that before, even Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom had not greeted her non-magical mother like that when they had met her. Julie looked at her shocked for a minute before shaking her hand.

"I hope you don't mind I took Esmerelda to mine last night, I didn't want her out late by herself and she was really upset she didn't want to go home" Julie told the woman not wanting Esmerelda to tell her later and then the woman to be angry or upset as if she had being hidden from the truth.

"Oh thank you! "I was worried so much on the plane over here but knowing my granddaughters were being cared for reassured me" the woman told her with a smile.

Julie could tell the woman adored the girls. All three of them included and instantly liked her.

"This is my daughter Mildred, she is in Ethel's year" Julie explained to her. Josephine's eyes went wide.

"Oh so you know about...I didn't know you knew the girls personally" the woman said clearly surprised they knew about magic.

Julie was about to reply until there was a shout from the corner of the room.

* * *

"Grandma, Grandma!" little Sybil Hallow said as she looked at her older sister lying on the hospital bed. The woman rushed over to her granddaughters worried.

"I think she is waking up" Esmerelda said beaming and Josephine looked over and saw Ethel was clearly blinking. Mildred and Julie rushed over too. Everyone watched with anticipation as they waited to see what would happen.

Ethel suddenly opened her blue eyes and everyone beamed at her but their smiles faded as a second later her eyes closed. Julie could see the looks of worry on the faces of the members of the Hallow family so began to explain.

"Don't worry, sometimes they only wake for a few seconds at first, this is a brilliant sign though that Ethel is starting to come around" Julie reassured the family but little Sybil who seemed to Julie to have being holding in her sadness, suddenly burst into tears.

"Sybil darling don't cry" Josephine said as she wrapped her arm around her in a hug.

"I told you we are cursed!" the young blonde said through her sobs "First Esmerelda loses her powers" Sybil said upset.

"Wait a second...what!?" Josephine said. Clearly the woman had no idea about Esmerelda's absent magic.

"Then Ethel has a accident, everything bad happens to us!" Sybil said as she sobbed into her Grandmother who could only look at Esmerelda with her mouth opened.

"It is a long story" Esmerelda told her grandmother not sure how she was going to react to her losing her powers.

"It is because of Agatha Cackle, you went to school with the Cackle twins didn't you?" Mildred suddenly interrupted. The woman looked over at the dark haired girl something coming to her as she looked at the girl, like she had met her before.

"Yes I did...sorry have we met before?" the woman asked confused.

"Sort of" Mildred replied "I met you when you were a student, Nightstar, Ethel's cat escaped into the mists of time and we went back to your time at Cackles, I took Nightstar from you" Mildred explained to the woman who gasped as she remembered.

"Yes I remember now, I remember you telling me it was my granddaughters cat and you were taking it back to her, then you told me I look remarkably like my granddaughter before you left" Josephine replied as it came back to her now.

"Well you do, you looked just like Ethel when you were younger" Mildred told the woman with a smile.

"What does this have to do with Agatha though?" Josephine asked.

"Agatha tricked me into giving her my powers pretending to be Ada, Ethel offered but I took her place" Esmerelda told her grandmother with a shrug leaving out the part about Ethel knowing full well the woman was Agatha.

* * *

"Well that was a very noble thing for you to do darling, I am proud of you for thinking of your sister and not yourself" Grandma Josephine told her eldest granddaughter as she beamed at her. She realised then how much the girl had grown up and what a kind hearted person the girl was, she had no idea how she had turned out like that though considering who her parents were who were two of the coldest people she had ever met.

Esmerelda smiled. She had expected the woman to at least express some anger towards her stupidity and she was thankful she wasn't, it was hard enough for the girl without her telling her how stupid she was. It was as if the woman knew that she needed support right now and not to be told off.

"Thank you Grandma" the eldest blonde said with a smile.

"No problem darling, you made a big mistake but mistakes happen all the time, even without ma.."

That is as far as Josephine got before there was a small wooshing noise and a man and a woman appeared from nowhere. Everyone in the ward, including the other bedridden patients, stared over at the two people, who turned around stiffly. Julie was astonished to see the look Esmerelda was wearing and before she spoke she knew who these people were.

"Mother...Father" the eldest said unable to keep the obvious anger out of her voice.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: My aim is to upload with a hour to go to every episode every week! Let's see if I can do it so far I have.

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at the group standing by Ethel stiffly and no-one said anything for a few minutes until Josephine broke the silence.

"You idiots what are you doing transferring like that to a normal hospital?" the grey haired woman asked as she looked around seeing all the patients gawping in shock at what they had just seen.

"Hello to you too mother" Mr Hallow replied annoyed at the greeting they had received.

"What are you doing here?" Esmie asked cutting into the conversation.

"Well we came to ask Josephine why she decided to kidnap our daughter!" Mrs Hallow replied "You just took her when we were at work!" Mrs Hallow told her mother in law really annoyed.

"Oh get over yourselves, I am allowed to take my granddaughter out, I was bringing her to see her sister because you two couldn't be bothered" Josephine shouted at the two adults.

Julie could see a major argument was about to take place so stepped forward knowing how many people were watching.

"Hey there is people watching and listening to this whole thing" Julie told the adults knowing how many non-magical people were listening.

Josephine stood up closed the curtains around Ethel's bed and then lifted her hand casting silencing charms and protective charms. As soon as everything was protected Josephine seemed to give in and let herself lose control with her anger.

* * *

"Oh Esmerelda and Ethel are both fine thanks for asking" the woman yelled at her son and daughter in law astonished at their uncaring attitude.

"Esmerelda is not fine, and you should not be proud of her for giving away her powers" Mrs Hallow replied loudly.

"I know to you two idiots the thought of someone loving something more than magic doesn't exist but actually most people love their family more than their powers" Josephine replied to that.

"Oh but you don't know the whole story, do you know what Ethel did?" Mr Hallow yelled as he threw a disgusted look towards the girl in a coma like state.

"What Ethel did?" Josephine asked curiously

"Please don.." Esmerelda started to say but her mother cut her off.

"You be quiet, your amazing granddaughter tricked Esmerelda into giving her powers away, she knew it was Agatha Cackle, she did it all so she could become headgirl" Mrs Hallow explained to Josephine and by that revelation everyone fell silent. Josephine saw everyone faces in the room and knew it was the truth by their expressions.

Josephine was not one hundred percent sure why Mr and Mrs Hallow were telling her this but from what she knew of them she imagined it was to try and make her hate Ethel the way they did, to try prove to her she was a bad person and they are right to treat her badly but Josephine did not hate Ethel even after she heard this, in fact all the woman felt was incredible sadness.

"I never should have left...things are much worse than I thought" the woman replied quietly.

"Yes and you are here supporting Ethel after all that?" Mr Hallow asked his mother his eyes dark with anger.

"Yes" Josephine replied without a thought "If anyone is to blame for what happened it is you two" Josephine told them.

"How is it our fault?" Mrs Hallow asked with a tone of amazement.

"Because Agatha gave Ethel the things she crave from you: attention and something that makes her feel special, at the time Ethel was not thinking about what will happen to Esmie if she went through with this she was thinking that you would open your eyes and notice her, none of this would have happened if you didn't pretend Ethel did not exist" Josephine told the two parents who scoffed in a uncaring way. As this was going on though no-one seemed to notice Esmerelda was struggling to contain herself.

"Don't blame us, you were the one who up and left!" Mr Hallow shouted sending the blame back to his mother.

Sybil watched the fight with her eyes full of tears, she hugged her sister as she cried silently hating her whole family fighting like this but Esmerelda suddenly spoke so quietly everyone fell silent to listen.

* * *

"Why can you not be normal?" Esmerelda asked looking at her parents as she spoke. Her parents looked at her, eyebrows narrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean darling?" Mr Hallow asked not understanding what she meant.

"Why did you have children...you don't care about us you never have...you only like to show us off, why can you not love us the way normal parents do, the way Julie loves Mildred?" Esmerelda asked them and Sybil gulped and stepped away from Esmie knowing she was absolutely boiling with anger by the tone of her voice.

"We do love you poppet" Mrs Hallow told her daughter but the way she spoke sounded like she was speaking through gritted teeth.

"No you don't, if you loved me you would accept the fact I have no powers, you would hug and kiss us and tell us you love us and support us even when we do something stupid, and you basically just said you don't love Ethie" Esmerelda told her parents. By this point Sybil was coming to this realisation as well and was openly crying, Mildred was hugging the girl as no-one else seemed to notice her distress.

"Darling you are thinking to much into this" Mr Hallow told his daughter with a sigh. It was at that moment Esmerelda decided to lie, she wanted to see just how much her parents cared, she wanted to see how they would react.

"I slept in a car last night" at this Josephine and Julie looked at each other confused as to what she was doing. Why was she saying that? She was at Julie's last night.

"With a guy" Esmerelda finished trying to stop herself from laughing as she saw the looks on her parents face drop into a look of pure horror and anger.

"He's my boyfriend" Esmerelda went on making the lie worst "He was horrified when I said I was walking home so he picked me up" Esmerelda went on. Mildred just stared at the girl, amazed at how easily she could lie like Ethel. She never would have thought the girl could lie and lie well. Mr and Mrs Hallow realised then that the boy was obviously old enough to drive so must be at least eighteen.

"Are you having sex?" Mr Hallow asked his daughter his voice shaking as he spoke.

"Yes" Esmerelda said casually like it was no big deal. Julie had to cover her mouth then to stop herself laughing, she knew this story was a bunch of rubbish as obviously she had had the teenager in her house last night.

Esmerelda had being expecting them to flip when she said that but she had not expected her father to slap her around the face like he did. When he did that Josephine rushed forward as Esmerelda stood there holding her cheek in absolute shock. Julie, Mildred and Sybil could only watch with wide eyed horror.

"Esmie darling are you okay?" she said looking at the girls red cheek gently before turning to Mr and Mrs Hallow "How dare you hit her" the woman screamed at them.

"Did you not hear what she said? "It is disgusting!" Mrs Hallow said angrily.

"It is not true!" Esmerelda yelled at them "I was testing you and you were not even concerned that I was out sleeping in a car god knows where with god knows who, only that I was having sex which might I add I am not, and if I was I would not tell you two in a billion years" Esmerelda shouted at them upset they really could not care less about her whereabouts last night only that they thought she was with a guy. She had hoped maybe they would show some concern about where she had spent the night.

"How can we trust you that there is no boyfriend?" Mr Hallow asked angrily.

"Because if you knew anything about me at all you would know my sisters come first and I am not looking to date right now because I would not even have the confidence to date because I close myself of from everyone around me because I can't trust anyone and don't know how to interact with them which is exactly why I have no friends and only talk to my sisters" the girl told her parents as tears streamed down her face as she admitted all this to them. Everyone was quiet now listening to the girls confessions.

"Esmerelda" Grandma Josephine said as she tried to hug her again but the girl shook her head as she started to sob and walked out the curtain distraught. She had been trying with her parents but she knew now it was the end of any relationship they had, they couldn't care less if she had been in a gutter asleep, or that Ethel was in a coma, all they care about was what could damage their image.

* * *

"Why did you do that? Stop upsetting them!" Grandma Josephine shouted at Mr and Mrs Hallow as Esmie left.

"Well she was the one who lied to us!" Mr Hallow replied in defence.

"I see the girl once every few years and I knew that story was a bunch of rubbish, maybe pay attention to your girls instead of your pay-checks" the woman shouted and the three adults started to shout again. Sybil was sobbing in Mildred's arms by this point as she was so shocked seeing her sister getting hit and she also had to deal with the realisation her parents were not going to change.

"Millie why don't you go with the girls to the cafe so things can calm down a bit?" the woman asked her child and Mildred nodded as the three adults got louder.

"Sure, come on Sybil it is okay" Mildred said opening the curtain and leading her out.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: One hour!

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven**

Mildred and Sybil soon met up with Esmerelda. The young teenager was stood leaning against the wall just letting tears run down her face, Sybil who did not like her sister crying rushed up to her putting her arm around her and leading her away, the three of them then proceeded to walk in silence to the hospital cafe.

The two sisters found a table and sat down, neither of them talking to each other because what could they say? Both were in shock as to what had just happened on the ward, but at least Esmerelda was not crying anymore and merely sniffing. Mildred placed two bowls in front of the girls full of hot tasty chips and smiled as she took a seat next to Sybil.

"My mum always lets me buy chips from here when I am upset" Mildred told the girls, Esmerelda was not listening anymore and was in her own world as she leaned her chin on her hand, Sybil though was excited about the treat.

"Yum! "Can we have loads of ketchup?" Sybil asked Mildred. The brunette nodded and stood again to get a bottle of ketchup? for the girl who started to tuck in straight away.

"Esmie these chips are amazing, you are missing out" Sybil told her sister with a mouth full of chips.

"Earth to Esmerelda" Mildred said clapping her hands sending the girl out of her trance. She looked down at the bowl of chips in front of her as if she only had just realised they were there.

"Are you okay?" Mildred asked the girl concerned about her behaviour, especially after what had just happened earlier.

"Why do they hate Ethie?" Esmerelda asked wiping fresh tears from her eyes and Mildred sighed as Sybil paused halfway through a chip, neither knowing how to answer.

"I can't tell you that, that is something only they know" Mildred replied gently to the older girl.

Mildred watched the girl as tears fell down her face again thinking it was ironic, Mildred had never seen the girl cry before today, now she seemed unable to stop.

"Ethel does not need her parents to love her, she has you and Sybil and your grandmother, she will be fine" Mildred tried to reassure the girl again.

"But she doesn't want us...she wants them" Esmerelda replied sadly knowing she would always come second to Ethel.

"Maybe she does now but it will change once she realises her parents are pointless to bother with" Mildred told Esmerelda who looked at her not convinced.

"Ethel adores you, she is just...confused about how to show it I think" Mildred commented wanting the girl to cheer up.

"Ethel does love you Esmie, she just doesn't realise how much yet" Sybil told her sister as she munched on a chip happily.

"Things will change Esmerelda, one day Ethel will wake up and see that chasing her parents is just making her miserable and then she will stop closing off from you" Mildred told the girl logically, as even she could read how Ethel felt about her older sister.

"I always told myself our parents cared...in their own way...but they don't...they couldn't care less if I had been asleep on the streets" Esmerelda replied clearly trying to get used to the fact her parents could not care less if they tried.

Sybil sighed at that too. She had just come to that realisation as well and it was a lot to take in. Mildred decided to change the subject though, something Esmerelda had said before had really bothered her.

"What did you mean before...about having no friends?" Mildred asked the girl gently.

"What I said" Esmerelda told Mildred with a shrug. "People don't tend to want to be my friend, I suppose it is because they think I only care about work and won't have time to do anything with them, being a nice person does not mean you make friends easily" Esmerelda shrugged in response.

That was the first time Mildred came to the realisation Esmerelda was not all she seemed. It was the first time she realised maybe the girl did not want to be the star pupil or someone who focuses entirely on work but because her parents pressure her so much and because of the code she feels like she has no choice. To Esmerelda, working hard helps her forgot the sadness she feels from her dysfunctional homelife and Mildred was starting to feel like she understood the girl better.

"You are wrong you know" Mildred told the girl as Sybil looked at her eating a chip.

"About what?" Esmerelda asked her confused.

"Well you have friends in both Ethel and Sybil, and I am your friend Esmerelda, and I know Ethel and I don't get on very well but I still care about her" Mildred told the oldest blonde who for the first time in half a hour smiled. Mildred smiled back happy she had finally lifted the girls spirits.

* * *

Things might have been looking up for the sisters and Mildred but in the ward it was another story. Now that the children were gone Mr and Mrs Hallow and Josephine were having a full on screaming match at each other.

"How dare you lay a finger on my granddaughter!" the woman yelled at her son as she glared at him with daggers in her eyes.

"Don't tell us how to parent our children!" Mrs Hallow shouted back insulted the woman was trying to take over.

"Then parent then properly!" Josephine yelled back at them at the end of her ropes with them.

"They have everything they need, they have the best of everything what more do you want?" Mr Hallow shouted back as Julie looked between the adults awkwardly not wanting to get involved.

"They don't want your stupid expensive things, they want love and affection, Julie is a fantastic mother and she is not rich, why can you not be more like her?" Josephine shouted beyond annoyed at the adults right now.

"We care about our children!" Mrs Hallow shouted back ignoring her comment about Julie.

"Yes of course you do, when they are winning some award and you can show it off to your little friends, any other time you couldn't care less, I wouldn't trust you two to look after a stick" Josephine shouted hands on her hips and red in the face.

"Oh please, Esmerelda and Sybil will achieve much more than her daughter because they were given the right start in life" Mr Hallow replied and Julie scoffed insulted.

"You have three daughters one of which is lying feet from you in a coma" Josephine shouted at them more, frustrated at their lack of care towards Ethel.

"She is not perfect" Mrs Hallow replied no longer shouting even if her voice was slightly raised. Julie could not help it. She had to say something, she had been trying to resist but she just couldn't anymore.

"No-one is perfect, not my daughter and not your daughters either, and you shouldn't expect them to be, that is to much pressure for a child" Julie told the couple needing to get her point across.

"Maybe your daughter is not perfect but Esmerelda is going to be inheriting everything one of these days and she has to learn how to conduct herself" Mr Hallow replied rudely.

"That will be difficult with her absent magic" Julie replied thinking these people were just plain stupid.

"How dare you! "I have heard about you and your daughter, she is not even a witch and you...you are just a boring ordinary woman who decided to sent her daughter away, how can someone who has known about magic for only a mere year possibly talk to us about magic?" Mrs Hallow asked insulted and angry.

Julie glared at the blonde woman as she verbally attacked her daughter but if the woman wanted a fight she was going to get one.

"Maybe my daughter is not from a two parent, rich family, and yes maybe I am not magical and she has only discovered her powers recently but my daughter is happy, which can be more than is said for any of yours" Julie replied ready for the fight she knew was coming.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Let me know what you think of the telepathy part of this chapter, it is something I have wanted to explore for a while (basically because I feel like there is evidence for this). Anyway hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve**

Mrs Hallow stepped forward after Julie spoke as if preparing to go in for the attack, she glared at the woman before speaking in a angry way.

"My children are happy actually, you have known them for less than a day so I think I know better than you" Mrs Hallow replied angrily, Julie glared back before speaking.

"Just because I have known them a day does not come into it, I know a unhappy child when I see one, Esmerelda is overwhelmed and hurting because of how you treat Ethel, anyone can see the girl feels like she has the world on her shoulders with how much you pressure her" Julie replied logically.

"Don't you da.." Mrs Hallow never got to finish her sentence because Julie carried on.

"And as for Sybil. She just wants her family to get along, she is terrified of everything because you sheltered her so much and the girl feels like she has to pick between you two and her sisters" Julie carried on describing what was affecting Sybil.

"Be qu.." Mrs Hallow started again but she was cut off again.

"And as for Ethel, I have not met her awake yet I will admit but Mildred has told me about her, she pushes her sisters away as she doesn't trust them because you have confused her about what love is, all she wants is your attention and because she is hurting she results to bullying" Julie finished as she spoke about Ethel, the way Mrs Hallow was looking at her in that moment made Julie think she was about to either slap her or curse her but luckily she had no time to do any of these things.

* * *

The three girls were in the cafe, making small talk about school and eating their chips when Esmerelda suddenly stopped halfway through a chip wearing a look of shock but also absolute relief on her face.

"What?" Mildred asked wondering why she was acting in such a strange way as they discussed lessons. The girl was smiling now and jumped up.

"Ethie is waking up!" she shouted as a lot of people in the cafe turned to look at her. Mildred looked at the girl, mouth opened wondering how the hell she knew that, though she wasn't sure if this was even true. Mildred sneaked a glance at Sybil and saw the girl smiling too clearly believing Esmerelda as if this kind of strange thing had happened before.

"Come on quick" the girl said running ahead of her sister and Mildred as Esmie stuffed the last of the chip in her mouth and ran after her. Mildred followed behind trying to figure out what had just actually happened, but she really did not think Esmerelda was right, how could she be?

* * *

Esmerelda and Sybil skidded into the ward out of breathe after their running and everyone turned to look at them confused as Mildred walked in with a small smile as if to tell the people in there she had no idea what was happening. Mildred glanced at the bed and sighed seeing Ethel was still asleep and sighed once more to herself not wanting the girls to cry again.

"Ethie come on, we are here now" Esmerelda spoke to the figure on the bed and Mildred thought the girl had finally lost it and just kept staring at her as she spoke.

Then Mildred opened her mouth in amazement again as Ethel suddenly moved, just at the time her sister had stopped talking, almost as if she could hear her.

The girl moved her arms a little before suddenly her eyes shot open and she moved her eyes trying to look at her surroundings. Everyone waited in anticipation to see if she would fall asleep again but she did not appear to be about to.

"Ethie!" Esmerelda shouted after a few seconds. The girl moved her eyes until they were focused on the older girl and she spoke quietly.

"Esmie...where am I?" she asked her sister clearly confused.

"You are in hospital darling you had a nasty fall" Grandma Josephine explained to her. Ethel moved her eyes now to look at her Grandmother and her eyes widened in shock as she saw her.

"Grandma!" Ethel said and the woman smiled stroking her forehead.

Both Esmie and Sybil beamed at their sister before Esmie's face turned into one of hurt and worry.

"Her head hurts, can you give her some painkillers?" Esmerelda asked looking at Julie as she stroked her sister's blonde hair.

Julie opened her mouth once then twice and finally on the third time she got her words out.

"Well I know she had a fall but Ethel does not seem to be compla..." Julie said before Ethel moaned.

"My head hurts" the younger blonde said out loud, confirming what Esmerelda had said. Julie and Mildred wore identical looks of amazement in that moment.

Mildred's eyes widened as the girl said that. Ethel had just woken up, Esmerelda did not have time to ask her sister if she was in pain, it was almost as if Esmerelda could read her sister's mind.

"Okay...I will get you some painkillers" Julie said kindly as she walked off to get the medicine, no-one had noticed Mr and Mrs Hallow had gone in the excitement.

* * *

Mildred stayed and watched the exchange between the family awkwardly feeling like she was interfering, both Esmerelda and Sybil sat on the bed next to her and they spoke gently to her as their grandmother stood by her side also in the conversation.

"Why is Mildred here?" Ethel suddenly asked rudely as she finally spotted the dark haired girl.

"The nurse who is getting the painkillers for you is her mother" Esmie replied as she stroked her sister's hair lovingly.

"Can I have a different nurse?" Ethel complained clearly not happy about who was looking after her.

"Mildred's mum is really nice, she let Esmie stay at hers last night" Sybil told Ethel without really thinking it through.

"You stayed at Mildred's?" Ethel asked looking at her sister shocked.

"I had no-where else to go, and don't be mad, Mildred and her mother are nice, I know you and Mildred don't get on very well but you need to try to talk to each other" Esmerelda replied sadly not wanting her sister to pull away from her because she stayed at Mildred's.

"Mum and dad didn't come" Ethel told her sister sadly in response and Esmie looked over only then noticing they were gone.

"Oh well, you have all the important people who love you here" Esmerelda replied smiling at her sister and kissing her on the forehead as Julie came back and gave her the medicine, the woman noticed that Ethel was glaring at her.

"Why are you looking after me?" Ethel asked in an annoyed way and Julie realised she knew who she was.

"My daughter and you have problems but that does not mean I am not going to do my job, if you want me to get another nurse I will but they won't know about your world" Julie replied explaining to the girl who sighed and leaned her head on her grandmother.

"You came all the way here for me Grandma?" Ethel asked now ignoring Julie.

"Of course truffle, I rushed here as soon as I heard you were hurt" the woman told her kissing the girl's face and smiling at her, completely different from her mother.

"My head still hurts" Ethel now complained again.

"It takes a while for the medicine to work Ethie" Esmie told her as she grabbed her hand.

"Why don't we leave them alone for a while?" Julie suggested sending Mildred out of her thoughts. Mildred nodded in agreement and followed her mother out of the room with a backwards glance confused as to today's events. Mildred could not help thinking Esmerelda could read her sister's mind.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

The family was less alone and Josephine looked at her granddaughter and sighed as she did so.

"You were rude to the nurse" the woman told her with a sigh.

"Her daughter has ruined my life, she even has got into Esmie's head" Ethel replied with a scowl folding her arms clearly unhappy.

"What are you talking about Ethie?" Esmerelda asked her sister confused.

"Oh Esmerelda let's have a sleepover and make pizza's and cupcakes!" Ethel said in a high pitch awful expression of Mildred. "I know you can move in and we can spend our days running through flower fields" Ethel replied saracatically.

Esmerelda knew she should not encourage Ethel but the impression her sister did of Mildred and the stupid things she was saying about running through flower fields and cupcakes was to much for the older girl and she laughed.

"It is not funny, I am really upset that you went and slept over at hers!" Ethel replied seriously her arms still folded. Esmerelda stopped giggling but she did keep smiling before hugging Ethie.

"It was one night, it was Mildred's or the streets as my options and I wouldn't move in with Mildred, I would miss you way to much, I would probably last about a hour" Esmerelda replied cuddling her sister.

"Oh please I suspect when I was here you were thrilled to get rid of me for a while" Ethel replied, she would always think Esmerelda's love for her was not exactly true.

"No actually, I was here the whole time except for when I was at Mildred's, oh and Mildred and I had a argument if that makes you feel better" Esmerelda admitted to her sister who looked at her confused.

"What about?" Ethel asked shocked at that revelation.

"You actually, I was upset she had hurt you even unintentionally which I told her" Esmerelda admitted to her sister stroking her blonde hair.

"Aww Esmie I never knew you loved me" Ethel replied this time kind of saracatically as she knew deep down her sister's love for her was pure but just not the extent of it.

"Only a tiny bit" Esmerelda replied messing with her.

"You are so mean to me" Ethel replied taking it literally and looking away in a strop.

"I am just messing with you Ethie, I love you to the moon and back even if you do drive me absolutely insane" Esmerelda said kissing her cheek causing Ethel to pull a face at the sloppiness but smiling as well.

* * *

After they had spoken for a while the sisters spent a while talking and playing some card games to pass the time. Josephine tried to join in with them but she did not understand the rules so she left them to it.

"I am just going to get a coffee, do you three want anything?" Josephine asked them and they all shook their heads as Josephine went to find the coffee machine and ran into Julie.

"Hiya, is everything okay with Ethel?" Julie asked the woman who smiled at the kind nurse as she picked up the cup of coffee.

"Yes her and her sisters are just playing a few of their little card games but everything is fine, I am sorry for Ethel's rudeness towards you though, please don't hold it against my granddaughter, she has anxiety" Josephine told her and Julie was shocked to hear that.

"Diagnosed?" Julie asked as this is the first time she had heard about this.

"More or less, I took her to the doctors in Australia when she came to visit a year before she started school, I could tell something was wrong with her mentally, the doctor told me it was anxiety and he gave her some medication to try and calm her a little only when she returned home her parents banned her from taking them, they didn't want to admit their daughter had a problem, I think she has depression as well to be honest, she has grown worst than when I last saw her but her parents refuse to even touch on the subject" Josephine admitted to Julie and Julie just stood there shocked.

"Thank you for looking after her so well though, I know she can be hard to deal with" Josephine went on and Julie shook her head sending herself out of her thoughts.

"No problem at all, Esmerelda was really distraught and I knew I could not just leave her even if it is true she has gave Mildred problems in the past" Julie went on as the two women took some seats in the waiting room to carry on talking.

"Where is Mildred anyway?" Josephine asked looking around.

"I left her in the family waiting room, she is drawing, she loves art so much" Julie told the woman proudly.

"Can't say I know much about art" Josephine replied sipping her coffee as she smiled at the woman.

* * *

The sisters played a few more games of cards until they grew bored and Ethel decided in that moment enough was enough. She was fed up of lying around, she hated to be lazy she needed to at least be walking around so she moved to sit up.

"Ethel be careful" Sybil said biting her lip.

"Maybe we should wait Ethie" Esmerelda told her not knowing if it was wise for her to get up.

"I am bored out of my mind sitting here doing nothing" Ethel told her as she held onto the wall to push herself up.

Esmerelda rolled her eyes knowing there was no point arguing with her about it, if Ethel wanted to stand up she was going to.

Ethel pulled herself up and took a small step forward with a smile, Esmerelda tried to support her but Ethel shrugged her off not wanting the help. The eldest and youngest watched Ethel carefully and smiled as she appeared to be just fine as she walked a few more steps.

Suddenly as Ethel went to take another step she wobbled and started to fall, Esmerelda and Sybil were not close enough to catch her before hitting the ground and Esmerelda glanced at the ground as she saw Ethel was about to fall over. It was a hard floor, Ethel had got of lucky before but if she whacked her head on the floor again she could really do some damage.

"NO" the girl shouted putting her hands out to cast a spell to stop Ethel falling, completely forgetting she had no powers and only remembering when her spell did absolutely nothing, Ethel was about to hit the floor and she knew even if she ran to her now she wouldn't be able to catch her quick enough.

Sybil looked over at Ethel and then Esmerelda's spell as it of course didn't work before coming to her senses and pointing her fingers at Ethel herself.

Sybil was not sure what Esmerelda had been trying to cast, but she suspected it was something that would stop Ethel from falling. Sybil however, was three years younger than her oldest sister and she had not even started her education at Cackles yet so she did not know any spells advanced enough to stop her sister falling, instead she made a pile of pillows appear and Ethel hit the floor just as they appeared. Esmerelda and Sybil ran forward to help her up.

"Are you okay?" Sybil asked going to one side to help Ethel up as Esmerelda did the same on her other side.

"I don't know I can't seem to bala..." Ethel said as she fell into Esmerelda who caught her this time.

"Sybil go get help" Esmerelda told her sister as she gently picked Ethel up in her arms putting one hand under her knees and the other on her back, and rushed her back to her bed. Ethel held onto her sister for dear life not even making a attempt to fight her off right now as she knew something was wrong and she couldn't stand.

Esmerelda pulled Ethel's covers back with one hand and placed Ethel on them gently trying to hide her panic from her sister.

"What is wrong with me Esmie?" Ethel asked her sister as she lowered her on the bed.

"I don't know honestly Ethie, try not to panic to much, everything will be alright" Esmerelda told her as she made sure Ethel was sitting up okay and sat on the bed next to her. Ethel grabbed Esmerelda's hand suddenly feeling afraid about this. Esmerelda squeezed it back as they waited in silence for help to arrive.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: One hour!

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen**

The small noise of crutches scrapping along the floor was heard as Ethel struggled along on the pair she had being given. The girl had been taken for tests and it had come out the injury she had sustained had knocked of her balance which is why she had to have crutches to balance. Julie had told the family she was not sure how long this injury would last for and despite the fact it was only crutches and it was not a to huge deal, it was for Ethel. She hated not being able to work properly and needing help.

Josephine had used forgetting powder on the other patients so no-one was staring at the family now, which was probably just as well as Ethel was really upset as she struggled to walk across the room, having to get used to how to use these crutches, the thing was as well witches might have magic but even they could not do anymore for a brain injury like Ethel had so she was stuck.

"Don't rush so much Ethie" Esmerelda told her sister as she saw she was trying to walk fast despite her limping. She looked at her sister seeing how distressed she was over this whole thing.

"You are doing great darling" Josephine told the young girl as Mr and Mrs Hallow walked into the ward, after their screaming match it seemed the couple had the sense this time to walk in like normal people. Mrs Hallow stormed over to the woman clutching a letter in her hand.

"What is this?" she asked not even stopping to look at how her daughter was.

"What is what?" Josephine asked them not shouting as she didn't want to upset her girls again.

"You have applied to try and get custody of the girls!, you want us to go to a trial, they are our children what are you playing at?" Mr Hallow asked his mother raising his voice.

"I am doing what I should have done years ago, you two can't parent and the girls need a loving, stable home, which I can provide them" Josephine replied. Sybil thought of something then and spoke up.

"But Grandma...we will have to move to Australia" Sybil told the woman, not sure if she was entirely keen on the idea, it would be terrifying moving to a new place.

"No darlings I will move back here, your school and life is here" she told her girls who all grinned at each other, Ethel's grin slightly smaller than her two sisters as she tried to concentrate on her walking.

"You won't win, we will fight you!" Mrs Hallow told the woman and Josephine scoffed.

"I have just as much money as you so you can't pay anyone of this time" the woman told them with a glare as she looked at her granddaughters.

"You see what you cause, she can barely walk because of you two" Josephine told them but not loudly, she really wasn't looking for another fight. Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at Ethel as she struggled along, but she stopped walking when she realised they were looking at her, highly embarrassed about it clearly as she turned red and kept her head down.

"Well you can have Ethel" Mr Hallow told his mother with a shrug, not preparing to fight about that.

"They are sisters they need to stay together" Josephine told the couple logically.

"We don't want Ethel, just take her if it will please you, she is a embarrassment" Mrs Hallow replied and Ethel put her head down more, clearly trying to hide the fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. Esmerelda was touching her sister's shoulder trying to help her with her walking but turned to her parents now angrily.

"Hey don't say that!" Esmerelda told them her heart hurting as they said something like that about Ethel.

"Well she is, she is crippled" Mr Hallow replied with a horrible insult towards his daughter, Ethel cried gently to herself as Julie stepped forward telling herself Ethel had done enough for now, she kept her back to the couple not wanting to entertain them and led the girl back to her bed, lowering her in it gently.

"Don't ever say that again, this is exactly why I am applying for custody" Josephine told her son and daughter in law, as Sybil and Esmerelda turned their back on them to go to Ethel. Esmerelda wiped her sister's eyes and spoke quietly.

"Don't listen to them, you are doing brilliantly" Esmerelda told her sister kindly as Mr and Mrs Hallow left after they were asked to leave a few times, but they did get say they would be back.

* * *

Julie walked over then about to tell Ethel she needed to rest as she had been on her feet most of the morning already practising with the crutches when Ethel gagged and Julie recognised the signs that it looked like she was about to vomit. She picked up the bowl she had left on the side for this cause, as she knew it could happen with Ethel's injury and Ethel threw up into the bowl a few times.

"Is she alright?" Josephine asked the woman worried as she wiped the girl's mouth for her.

"Yes, this can just be a side affect of her traumatic injury, can you come with me for a second I just need you to sign some papers" she told the woman, leaving Ethel with the bowl once she was sure the sickness was over, as she walked to the other side of the room quickly.

"You feeling better now?" Esmerelda asked stroking her sister's hair.

"Sometimes it is good to throw up as then you feel better" Sybil told her sister knowing how embarrassed she was about the whole thing and trying to make her feel better.

Ethel looked at her sister's sadly and Esmerelda stroked her hair more but suddenly moved her hand away in shock as she saw her sister had a nose bleed, luckily as the girl had sisters she knew pretty much how to deal with this.

"Sybil grab me a tissue" Esmerelda told her sister as she sat her sister up more knowing she shouldn't be lying down during a nosebleed as it was dangerous and then pinched her nose to try stop the bleeding as she wiped away the already existing blood. It appeared to be quite a bad nose bleed as the tissue was quite bloody.

Esmerelda was just getting another tissue to wipe Ethel's nose more when suddenly the girl threw her head back onto the pillow and Esmerelda was just about to tell her to not lie down with a nose bleed when she realised her sister was not messing around.

The girl's eyes were unfocused and her body started to jerk, her arms and legs frailing around as she had a full blown seizure.

"Miss Hubble!" Sybil shouted over to the woman who was going through the paperwork with Josephine.

Julie ran over, able to tell instantly the girl was in the middle of a seizure, she jerked around unable to control her body and the woman sprang into action.

"Wait outside please" she told the family as she gently moved Ethel so she was lying on her side. Julie clicked a button and other nurses rushed in as Josephine rushed her girls out of the room, both already in tears.

"She will be fine, let the professionals deal with it" Josephine told the girls as they sat down to wait.

* * *

Julie came out not long later, she told them it was another side affect of Ethel's brain injury but there should be no lasting damage, because of the sezuire though and the fact that Ethel had been in the middle of the nosebleed when it happened, the blood had entered her mouth and she had choked so even though she was now stable and sound asleep resting she was once again hooked up to oxygen just to try calm her body down, they didn't want to take any chance.

"She is going backwards" Sybil sobbed as she looked at her sister once again hooked to machines that were helping her breathe.

"She isn't dear she will be fine, she just needs a little help right now because she choked, she should be right as rain in a few hours her body just needs time to adjust" Julie told the family as they cuddled the blonde girl until Sybil's stomach rumbled.

"You two have not ate all day, why don't we go and get some food and let your sister sleep for a bit?" Josephine suggested as they reluctantly agreed to it. Julie checked that all the machines were working correctly before she had to go check on another patient.

* * *

When Julie had left she had not noticed Mr and Mrs Hallow hanging around, they both walked into the ward, preparing to confront Josephine again but they realised no-one was there except Ethel and she was hooked to a ventilator, she had clearly gotten worse since that morning and now needed help breathing.

The couple walked over to Ethel and looked at her and Mr Hallow shook his head at her before he spoke.

"We hate you!, You are taking our girls from us" he shouted at his unconscious daughter.

Mrs Hallow looked at the mask around her daughter's face and could not take her eyes of the tube connected to tbe machine, providing her with oxygen.

"We only have two perfect daughter's" she said to Ethel as she looked at her husband. The man nodded and Mrs Hallow pulled on the tube on the ventilator until it came out and when the machine started to bleep Mr Hallow clicked the off switch before they both left Ethel there, no-one able to be alerted to the fact she was quickly losing oxygen.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Julie finished her rounds and found Mildred talking to the Hallow family, Julie smiled and went and joined them as she could tell all three of them were worried sick.

The adults made small talk as did the children until Esmerelda suddenly felt her heart drop into her stomach, it was a feeling of absolute dread, there was a pit in her stomach and she knew something was wrong. The girl turned and started to run towards the ward without telling anyone why. Julie smiled at Josephine and went and followed Esmerelda, thinking the girl was just upset.

Esmerelda rushed into the ward towards her sister and ran over to her sister. The younger blonde was slumped over on the bed with no ventilator attached to her and her lips seemed bluish, Esmerelda just froze in shock, all she could do was look at her sister wide eyed but she found herself physically unable to move even though she knew her sister was not breathing, her body would not budge.

* * *

Julie ran in after the blonde girl and saw her looking at Ethel in shock. She was concerned at the look on the girl's face.

"Esmerelda are you okay?" the woman asked her. When the girl failed to reply Julie glanced over at Ethel and saw what the girl was staring at, she gasped and rushed over to the bed pressing the panic button before turning the girl over and feeling for a pulse as other doctors ran in. When Julie saw Esmerelda was still stood there she rushed to the younger girl, needing her to leave as they worked on Ethel. She said something quickly to another doctor and put her arm around Esmerelda to lead her out, which was difficult as the girl wouldn't move.

* * *

When they got outside in the corridor, Mildred, Josephine and Sybil were waiting all wondering what was going on.

"Ethel somehow got unhooked from the ventilator" Julie told the group as Esmerelda suddenly realised what was being said and finally lost her will to stand. She fell onto the floor and both adults rushed forward to help the girl up, but she started to sob.

"Esmerelda we are working on Ethel as best as we can" Julie told the girl trying to help her but the girl once again would not move. She stayed sitting on the floor and Julie knew how horrible it must have been to find Ethel like that.

"Can't ...los...no...Ethie" the girl replied. Her breathing was seeming to become raspy as she panicked. It got worse and worse until she was struggling for breathe, and of course not being able to breathe made her panic much more.

"Esmerelda, it is okay, you are having a panic attack" Julie told her as she knelt next to her on the floor. "I need you to breathe, slowly, in and out" Julie told her thankful more than ever in that moment she was a nurse and knew exactly what to do.

"C...can't.." Esmerelda said as she carried on panicking.

"Look breathe with me, nice and slow, in and out" Julie said doing it with Esmerelda. The girl though seemed to distraught to listen to her, she kept panickering, getting worse by the second.

"ESMERELDA!" Julie raised her voice slightly. She didn't want to shout at the girl but she had to listen to her, they already had one sister fighting for her life they didn't need another.

Esmerelda took a deep breathe then and Julie smiled at her.

"That is it, and again, slowly does it" Julie told the girl as she breathed slowly in and out with Julie, until her breathing rate went back to normal.

"Good girl" Julie told her touching her shoulder gently before turning to Josephine.

"She needs a drink of water" she told the woman who nodded and rushed over to the nearest water dispenser, returning two minutes later, Julie gave the girl the cup of water to Esmerelda and told her to drink it.

"Ethie" Esmerelda cried in between gulps of water.

Julie wanted to reassure Esmerelda everything would be okay, but she didn't know how long Ethel had been of oxygen so she really was not sure she would be, Julie could not be mean, not this time, she had to prepare them in case it ended up the bad way.

"I need to talk to all of you, Mildred go and wait for me in the cafe" Julie told her. Mildred didn't argue as she knew this was serious so she nodded and left them as Julie took them to the family waiting room which was closed of and private.

* * *

"Sit down" Julie told the Hallow family. Esmerelda and Sybil did but Josephine though stayed standing.

"She's not..." Josephine said, clearly the thought of even saying the word they were all thinking was to much for her.

"I don't know...she might not make it...if her brain was starved of oxygen for to long it would have began to shut down...I am sorry" Julie told the family as gently as she could. Julie as a nurse had had to deliver this news before, it meant she had to be thick skinned and not break down over it, but this time was different. She knew the family personally and had been helping them for days. This was killing her inside too.

Josephine sat down then as Sybil burst into tears and the woman put her arm around her cuddling her close even if they were not sure yet, being told it was possible was to much. Julie looked over at Esmerelda surprised the older girl had not burst into tears as well but she expressed a different emotion. She stood up and walked over to Julie who looked at her trying to read her expression but it was difficult.

"You have to save Ethie" Esmerelda told the woman simply.

"We are doing everything we can, but we can't guarantee that" Julie told Esmerelda again not sure she really understood what was going on.

"You will save her!" Esmerelda told Julie, not even making a comment anymore but giving her a direct order, as if she expected Julie to be able to work miracles.

"Yes we will try our very best to" Julie told her again. The next thing that happened was so sudden it took Julie completely of guard.

Esmerelda flew forward and grabbed hold of Julie's arms really hard before she started to talk, not making any sense, and like she was deranged, her eyes wide and her voice higher than normal.

"SAVE ETHIE, YOU HAVE TO, I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT ETHIE" she shouted as she shook Julie hard as she did so.

"Esmerelda..." Julie started to say. Esmerelda was clearly presenting the anger that came with these things. Some people expressed anger in these situations.

"Take me!" Esmerelda then said "You can have me instead, just save Ethie, I need Ethie, I NEED HER!" she shouted then seeming unable to control herself. Julie looked at Josephine for help and though Sybil was still sobbing she jumped up rushing to her eldest granddaughter and started to pry her of Julie.

"Esmie stop" she told her as she started to pull her away more.

"No I can't lose Ethie" the girl shouted.

"Esmerelda" the woman said as Esmerelda fell onto her shoulder starting to sob now and Julie could only look on sadly. In that moment she wanted nothing more than Ethel to be okay. Nothing.

* * *

Julie was called by the doctors half a hour later and she left the room to talk to them, physically feeling sick about what they were about to tell her, she spoke to the doctor then walked back in the room to the family who all looked at her trying to read her expression.

"She is one fighter I tell you, she is stable" Julie told the family and she saw them all smile bigger than ever at them words, Esmerelda stood up running to Julie again and throwing her arms around her.

"Thank you!" she told her as she hugged her even though it had not all being down to Julie.

* * *

When they went to visit Ethel the family happily sat around her waiting stroking her head and hand , so happy Ethel was still with them, Julie was watching them with a smile when a nurse pulled her aside.

"We suspect foul play" the nurse told her and Julie started at her opened mouth, feeling her stomach drop at them words. Who on earth would do something so disgusting? Why would they want to kill Ethel? Why would they want to cause her family so much pain if it had happened? These questions all went around her head as she was told this was a deliberate act.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Julie had told the family what had been said as they had to be told so they knew it was being investigated, when Julie told the family that it was suspected this act had been deliberate the three Hallows gasped and looked at one another.

"What makes you think it was on purpose?" little Sybil asked Julie sweetly and the woman smiled at her.

"The tube that was connected to the ventilator was pulled out, but the way it was found was not consist with it falling out and the machine was also switched off, so someone must have done that so the machine would not bleep and alert us to what was going on with Ethel" Julie explained to the family.

"How sure are you this was non- accidental?" Josephine asked Julie calmly.

"Around ninety nine percent, though we have no idea who it was that did it" Julie admitted to her. Josephine looked at her, went and closed the curtains around Ethel and then walked back to the centre of the room.

"I know who it was" Josephine said lifting her hand to cast a spell. Mr and Mrs Hallow suddenly appeared in the room as she had just transported them.

* * *

"What did you do that for?" Mr Hallow asked as he dusted off his suit dramatically.

"You two tried to kill Ethel didn't you?" Josephine asked them. Sybil was being hugged by Esmerelda and both the oldest and the youngest were watching the exchange in shock.

"What? "No why would you think that?" Mrs Hallow asked as she denied it and shrugged.

"Well because you two hate Ethel" the woman replied as she glared at them. Mr Hallow looked at his mother then turned his attention to Julie.

"So does she, her daughter and Ethel fight like cat and mouse and she was alone with her, if anyone did this it is her" Mr Hallow said pointing at Julie accusingly.

"That doesn't make sense though" Esmerelda cut in as she looked at her father "She would lose her job and Mildred if she did something like that so killing Ethel would not benefit her in any way" Esmerelda replied knowing it could not have been Julie. She wouldn't risk losing Mildred.

"Be quiet Esmerelda, don't answer your father back!" Mrs Hallow told her with a glare. The defensive attitude and the shouting. Mrs Hallow was on edge as if she was worried about this whole thing and Esmerelda knew in that moment then it was true.

"You...you …." the girl could not even talk in that moment. Tears streamed down her face and she choked as she realised it was her parents who tried to kill Ethel, she knew they hated Ethel, she knew they didn't care, but this was something else.

"Esmerelda enough with the tears" her father told her clearly fed up of his daughter crying over this.

"Why would you...Ethie...I don't...why" Esmerelda asked them as she started to cry more in that moment.

"For the last time we did not do anything!" Mrs Hallow told her daughter but Josephine didn't buy it, she knew it was down to them and so now did Esmerelda, the woman shut them up when she threw a spell at them both and they were spun around and around and tied up with a robe, she didn't want them to have a chance to escape. She walked over to them holding a little crystal bottle in her hand.

"Mother! Release us now, I demand it" Mr Hallow told her as he struggled with the robes binding him.

The woman did not listen to him but instead she threw some of the liquid into the air, it seemed to a lot of people a stupid thing to do, but the potion turned into a powder and she sent it shooting up each of their noses, knowing she could get it in them no other way. They both coughed as they inhaled the power but Josephine smiled.

"Did you try and kill Ethel?" Josephine asked them both. Mrs Hallow replied first.

"No Josephine we didn't, why would we do that we love Ethel" the woman replied. Julie looked at the woman opened mouth. So it wasn't her?

"Never mother, we love Ethel and would want no harm to come to her" Mr Hallow now said. Esmie and Sybil looked at each other. So it really wasn't them then? but Josephine was wearing the famous Hallow smirk.

"Do you know what I just gave you?" she asked the couple. Both shook their heads, potions was not their strongest point and it was hard to tell what it was from where they were.

"I just gave you a lie potion" Josephine replied still smirking as she had gotten them.

* * *

"Wait a second, so that potion causes them to lie?" Julie asked Josephine "So if they said no that was them lying ...so .." Julie replied as it all came together to her.

"Exactly, they just admitted it was them who tried to kill Ethel" Josephine replied and in that moment Sybil came to this relaistion too and she stepped away from Esmerelda to talk to her parents.

"You tried to kill Ethel?" she asked her blue eyes filled with tears that were threatening to fall.

"Of course not darling, don't listen to your Grandmother she does not know what she is talking about" Mrs Hallow replied, smiling at Sybil.

"But she gave you a potion and you lied and said you hadn't tried to kill Ethel...so you did" Sybil said, the tears falling now.

"It is not what it sounds like Sybil, it was a accident...we tripped on the tube" Mr Hallow went on carrying on lying.

"You tried to kill Ethel, it was you!" Sybil said bursting into tears and running from the room. Esmerelda was crying herself but still managed to choke her words out.

"Oh well done" she told them sarcastically as she left as well to go and find her sister.

* * *

"You two disgust me" Josephine told them as she glared at them.

"She is making us lose our girls, everything is her fault" Mr Hallow told his mother as he kept struggling with his ropes.

"No it isn't, you lost your girls yourself, Ethel had nothing to do with that, your treatment of them has caused you to lose them" Josephine replied.

"You don't know anything, she made Esmie lose her powers, she doesn't care about family, she is selfish she only cares about herself" Mrs Hallow told her mother in law as she tried to free herself.

"Nothing could be further from the truth, you are speaking about yourself" Josephine told them before walking away to Julie who was looking shocked.

"What do we do?" Julie asked the woman concerned.

"They can't keep doing this, they have to learn" Josephine told Julie with a sigh.

"Maybe we should call the police?" Julie suggested. They did after all try to kill Ethel and Julie would not put it past them to try it again.

"I think we better, I am scared for my granddaughters safety" Josephine told the woman as she sighed clearly finding it hard even if Mr and Mrs Hallow were bad people.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Josephine asked and Julie nodded.

"Why don't I ring them and you watch them?" Julie commented as she gestured towards Mr and Mrs Hallow.

Josephine nodded as Julie left and she was left alone with Mr and Mrs Hallow. She went and sat by Ethel and sighed to herself hoping Esmerelda and Sybil were okay. She knew the sooner she got the girls, the better before they went any further downhill.

"Let us go" Mrs Hallow complained.

"I can't, I am busy with my granddaughter, now shut up you are giving me a headache" she told them as she used a silencing spell on them to make them fall silent. They kept trying to talk but she couldn't hear them and she stroked Ethel's hair gently, wondering what had made her parents hate her so much.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: One hour until Esmie is back!

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen**

There flowerpot turned into a log and then into a chair and then into a birdcage as spell after spell was shot at it. Josephine was keeping a lookout and talking to her granddaughters in the process.

"Esmie, don't cast so many spells at once, it will make the non- magical folk suspicious if they keep seeing sparks of light coming from here" Josephine told her granddaughter as she looked out into the corridor.

"I can't help it Grandma I am so excited to have magic again" the girl said as Sybil laughed watching the girl cast spell after spell.

Mr and Mrs Hallow were arrested at the hospital, and taken away to jail straight away to await trial, but with the evidence that they tried to kill their own daughter and the confessions they made to the police about it, chances are they would not be seeing daylight in a long time. When a magical person is arrested and convinced their magic is taken away from them. Obviously it does depend on the circumstances as to when this occurs but child abuse is one of the reasons to lose your magic, someone who stole a fifty pence chocolate bar would not have to endure this, the police were strict but not stupid either. Josephine had known her son and daughter in law would have their magic taken of them and normally the magic just disappeared, not able to be gotten back unless they take someone else's, exactly like the situation Agatha had being in. Josephine had asked if it was possible for Esmerelda to have some of the magic, her parents wouldn't be able to use it anyway. It was agreed as the police thought the girl deserved it for selflessly giving her own powers away. So the girl was magic again, she was not given their whole powers, they were adults after all so she wouldn't of being being able to deal with such advanced powers but she had been given some of the magic. True it is hard to judge how much she needed and because of this it seemed her magic was slightly weaker, about Ethel's level, but the girl didn't care she was just happy to be able to perform spells again. As Ethel was still not awake, Josephine had taken Esmerelda to a quiet spot of the hospital to practise and was watching the corridor for any intruders like a hawk.

* * *

After what happened with Ethel the girl was not awake yet. They had been able to remove her oxygen again and she could breathe by herself now but no-one was sure when she would wake yet and Julie had demanded the family leave Ethel for a while as they had been sat by her for two days straight. Julie hummed to herself as she did her rounds about to go check on Ethel but she gasped as she reached her bed.

The bed was empty. Julie instantly panicked and ran over ot the bathroom, wondering if the girl had awoken and gone to use the bathroom but she was not in there. She ran back out the bathroom and informed the other nurses what was going on and everyone was instantly in a panic.

Mildred was listening to music in the waiting room when she saw her mother running around frantically. The woman was opening doors and shouting something which was muffled to Mildred because of the earphones in her ears. She pulled them out and ran over to her mother.

"Mum what is wrong?" Mildred asked her worried about how she was acting.

"Ethel is missing...her bed is empty" Julie replied clearly worried sick. Mildred gasped knowing they were both thinking the same thing. Had Mr and Mrs Hallow somehow paid someone to kidnap her and harm her? Mildred wouldn't put it past them.

"I will help" Mildred said prepared to look for Ethel.

"Right I better go tell the other Hallows" Julie told Mildred running in the opposite direction from Mildred.

* * *

Mildred searched the entire floor she was on and found no sign of Ethel. Mildred really was worried that Ethel had been taken and as she looked through the next two floors and found no sign of her she was starting to really panic but when she reached the third floor she suddenly found her.

She had been looking in a storeroom and come out with a sigh when she saw no sign of her when she suddenly noticed a blonde blur down the corridor. She ran forward knowing it was stupid to get so hopeful, there was a lot of people in the world who were blonde not just the Hallow sisters, but she had to check this out.

Sure enough she managed to catch up with the person and from behind she could tell it was Ethel. She had her ponytail in her hair and despite the fact she was using a pair of crutches and walking slowly, the way she was walking told Mildred she was annoyed. Only Ethel could walk angrily like that on crutches so she ran forward to get in front of her.

"Ethel...everyone has been looking for you" Mildred told the girl as she stopped Ethel in her tracks from walking.

"Move Mildred" Ethel complained as she blocked her path.

"Where are you going?" Mildred asked the girl, wondering what on earth she was doing up here.

"As far away from here as possible, my family has left" Ethel said quietly clearly thinking they had abandoned her.

"Oh Ethel, they are still here, they haven't left, they were just having a rest, they have been sitting by you for two days" Mildred commented feeling really bad for the girl. She must have woken up and saw her sisters and grandmother were gone and thought they had got fed up waiting so had gone home.

"I tried to call Esmie but she didn't answer" Ethel then replied as a tear fell down her face.

"You mean through your telepathy?" Mildred asked wondering how else she could call Esmerelda in the hospital.

"How do you know about that?" Ethel asked looking at Mildred in shock.

"Esmerelda kept knowing when you were waking or injured before it happened so I guessed, it is pretty cool" Mildred replied wishing she had the power of telepathy.

"Yes it is nice to have...but she was ignoring me" Ethel sighed sadly.

Mildred remembered then that Esmerelda was practising her powers and knew what must have happened. The older blonde was properly having way to much fun playing with her new magic and rediscovering her abilities to perform spells she had properly missed Ethel 'talking' to her completely. Mildred knew Esmie would not have ignored the girl on purpose, she had just not been paying attention.

"She is properly having to much fun playing with her magic she didn't even hear you" Mildred replied with a smile as Ethel's eyes widened.

"What magic?" she asked Mildred and Mildred knew in order to tell her that she would have to tell her about the fact her parents tried to kill her. It was not the right time or the right place so she fell silent.

"It will be explained later I am sure, come on let's go find the others" Mildred told Ethel who sighed as if sure if she she believe Mildred but she started to follow slowly on her crutches. She had not been up and about in a while so she was struggling. Mildred put an arm around her waist to help her.

"Mildred, I am perfectly capable of walking without support thank you!" Ethel moaned as she hated to have to have someone help her to do something as simple as walking, especially if that person was Mildred Hubble.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore or you will never get out of this hospital, I am helping you" Mildred replied deciding to be just as stubborn as the blonde she was helping. Ethel sighed but gave up knowing she was not in a position to argue.

* * *

"ETHIE" Esmerelda shouted down the hospital corridor as she saw her sister and Mildred come around the corner. She went to hug Ethel and Ethel smiled but did not hug back, not wanting to lose her balance.

"Don't do that Ethel, we thought you had been kidnapped!" Josephine told her granddaughter as she hugged her happily not able to stay angry at her.

"Sorry...I thought you had all gone and left me and I was upset" Ethel replied with a shrug.

"Don't be daft, we only have been leaving at night and that is to sleep at the hotel across the way and then we come straight back here every morning!" Sybil told her sister as she hugged her too.

"You really need to stop thinking people don't love you because we do so so so soooo much" Esmerelda told her sister hugging her more.

"Mildred said you have magic again, how did that happen?" Ethel asked her sister curiously.

Josephine sighed but went into the whole story, Mr and Mrs Hallow trying to kill Ethel and Esmie's new magic and where it had come from. When she had finished Ethel was really upset.

"They tried to kill me..." Ethel said as she cried into her hands.

"Don't cry Ethie, I know it is horrible but at least it didn't work" Esmerelda told her sister as she put her arm around her.

"And Grandma Josephine is going to look after us now!" Sybil replied with a smile towards her sister.

"Yes, I most certainly am, don't you worry Ethel, everything is going to be okay" Josephine told her granddaughter hugging her tightly, Ethel burrowed in to her chest, clearly the girl was lacking in being hugged by a motherly figure and was taking any opportunity she got to experience it.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Another story finished, hoped everyone liked.

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen**

There was a knock on the door and Josephine Hallow went and opened the door, curious as to who it was as she was not expecting any visitors. She opened the door and found Julie Hubble standing on the doorstep.

"Hello!" the woman said cheerily, she had not expected to see her.

"Hi there, I hope I am not intruding, I just thought we should come check on Ethel" Julie told the older woman.

The girls had lived with their grandmother for a week now since Ethel had finally being discharged from the hospital after two months, she was still on crutches right now but she had not had any fits or nosebleeds since and was having therapy still to try get of the crutches.

"Oh thank you, come in!" the woman told her standing aside to let the curly haired woman into her house. Julie stepped in the reasonable size house, it was no mansion but comfortable for the four of them to live in. There place was decorated simply but in a comfortable homey way and Julie knew this house was starting to already become more than a building, but it was becoming a proper home.

"How are things going?" Julie asked the woman.

"Brilliant, the girls have settled already and Ethel is doing just fine, I had forgotten how noisy children are though" Josephine commented with a chuckle and it was then Julie heard how noisy it was in the house, It literally sounded like they were in a zoo and Julie wondered where the girls were when Ethel and Sybil ran out of a room on the far right, Ethel chasing her sister. She might be on crutches but she was still making a good effort of running. Esmerelda ran past Ethel and hid in a doorway as Ethel started to catch up to Sybil. Ethel smirked, lifted her lift crutch, and touched Sybil on the arm with the end of it.

"TAG YOU'RE IT!" Ethel said as she laughed. Sybil turned around looking unhappy.

"That is cheating!" Sybil commented folding her arms.

"I can't run properly so I should be allowed to use my crutches to my advantage" Ethel replied as Esmie walked up to them to stop the fight.

"Tell her Esmie, she cheated!" Sybil complained pouting her lip.

"No tell her Esmie, she has an advantage in the fact she can run" Ethel replied both looking at Esmerelda. The eldest bit her lip as if trying to decide who was right. Ethel turned her gaze to Julie.

"You choose, should it count or not, you will remain impartial" Ethel told Julie knowing she wouldn't side with one of them just to please them. Julie thought about it for a while and then made her decision.

"I think we should let Ethel have it, she is right she has a disadvantage because she can't run, and it was a clever idea" Julie replied and Ethel stuck her tongue out of her sister.

"Ethie...she is it...so run!" Esmerelda told her sister who was just stood there but the girl came to her senses and started to run away. In her distraction, Esmerelda allowed herself to be caught.

"Aww great" the eldest blonde said with a smile.

* * *

The girls eventually got bored of their game and Ethel rushed over to Esmerelda, her clutches clanging on the floor.

"Can you do my hair now?" Ethel asked her and Esmie looked around with a smile but agreed.

"Sure Ethie, I did promise after all" Esmerelda told her as she led her over to a corner of the room and told her to sit down in one of the chairs around the kitchen table.

Ethel really liked Esmie's curly hair and when the girl had being powerless she had had to do it the old fashioned way: a normal curler and Esmie had told Ethel she would do it for her when she was out of the hospital but things had been so crazy she had not gotten the chance. Esmerelda set up the curler and started to brush Ethel's hair.

"How did you learn how to do this again?" Ethel asked her sister.

"The library had one of them computer things, and I was messing around and found a video on how to do it, it was on tube or something" Esmerelda commented in response as she took a section of Ethel's hair and started to curl it.

"YouTube?" Julie commented helpfully.

"That is the one" Esmerelda replied as the name rang a bell now she heard it and she started to move around Ethel's hair curling the sections.

"Please don't burn me" Ethel said not liking the curling iron so close to her neck. Esmerelda took a towel, put it over her shoulders, and then replied.

"I won't, just keep still" Esmerelda told her sister. Ethel obeyed and stayed still, she needed to sit down anyway, she always found herself tired after walking to much.

* * *

"Done" Esmerelda told her forty minutes later and Ethel admired her curls in the mirror, smiled, stood up, and hugged Esmerelda.

"Thank you, I love it" the girl told her really liking the new look she was wearing.

"You look cute" Esmerelda replied as Sybil ran over and plonked herself down on the chair.

"Me next!" she said and Esmerelda chuckled as she started on Sybil's.

"I should start charging" Esmerelda joked as she did her other sister's hair.

Julie smiled over at the three girls. Ethel was watching what Esmerelda was doing and talking to her sisters as she did so. Julie knew then she had outstayed her welcome. She knew it was time to go and give the family a bit of space.

"Well I best be going, I am glad everything seems to be going so well" Julie told Josephine.

"Thanks for visiting" Josephine told her as she saw Julie out and looked over at her granddaughters happily.

* * *

They were all talking happily to each other as Esmerelda curled Sybil's hair, enjoying spending time with her sisters.

The trial for Mr and Mrs Hallow had not happened yet, it would be a few months for it to happen but Josephine had already being checked over by social services and they were more than satisfied with the care the sisters were receiving so she had been granted temporary custody and this will change to full custody once Mr and Mrs Hallow's trial was finished.

The girls were already a lot happier than they had been at home. Mr and Mrs Hallow did not like noise and they did not like their girls to make noise so for the first few days the girls had been dead quiet, until they realised their grandmother did not mind them making noise so they started to play more games and run around more.

"You are all done Sybie" Esmerelda told her youngest sister as the younger girl jumped up to admire her new hair in the mirror. Josephine rushed over to them with a camera.

"You three could be triplets" she told them as she looked at them all with their hair styled in the same way. "Let me take a picture" Josephine said as all three girls stood together and smiled for the camera. Josephine took a few snaps and then lowered the camera.

"Let me see" Ethel said wanting to have a look at the pictures she took. Josephine showed her the pictures on the camera and the middle granddaughter smiled.

"I like them" she told her grandmother, liking the way the pictures had come out.

"Can we get them printed grandma?" Esmerelda asked her wanting to get them printed so they could put them in an album and frame some of them.

"Of course we can darling, I will do it next time we go shopping" she told Esmerelda as something came to her then.

"Oh yes speaking of shopping you all go back to school next week" Josephine commented. School had of course already started but with Ethel in hospital and so ill neither Esmerelda or Sybil wanted to go in case something happened to her so they had all being sent their work and had done it at home but they were about to return to school. "We better make sure we get everything you need by Saturday" Josephine commented.

"Okay Grandma" Sybil said with a smile. The woman smiled back happy, Esmerelda was able to return to school now she had magic again too, and she wasn't to worried, her granddaughters were all smart, they would catch up.

"I am scared about starting" Sybil said as she was going to be a first year and had missed the start of term and the time when everyone found their friendship groups.

"Don't be Sybie, Ethie and I will look after you" Esmerelda told her lovingly.

Josephine smiled at that. She knew things would be somewhat difficult for the girls, Ethel as she had to learn to walk properly again and the fact they had a whole new home and it would take them a while to truly settle, but the girls had each other, they were together and that is how Josephine knew they would all be okay.


End file.
